Line of Blood
by ravexgates
Summary: Cassidy Morelli is the daughter of the Italian mob boss and inherits everything when the Saints kill her father in front of her but oddly enough let her and her cousin Melanie go. Cassidy is in charge now and the Saints have to continue on their plan to kill all the evil in Boston, this includes Cassidy's family and in the end Melanie and Cassidy herself. Murphy/OC & Connor/OC
1. Chapter 1

"Melanie get your ass down here!" I yelled at my cousin as she continued to get ready after an hour of my nagging her to hurry up.

"Calm down Cassidy, you can't rush perfection" Melanie fluffed her hair as she walked down the stairs.

"And you can't rush Melanie O'Donnell" I grumbled to myself as I grabbed my purse and headed towards the door.

"Hold on!" Melanie yelled and stopped to look in the mirror" I growled and ran back to grab her arm and drag her away from her reflection, "You look fine, now we are going to be late" We walked out of the door and straight to my car. My father, the head of the Italian mob, owned a club in downtown Boston that we were headed to, it was the best place to get trashed and have some fun. Melanie got in the passengers seat of my royal blue challenger as I got in the drivers side and revved the engine with a smile.

"Now who's the one that's stalling" Melanie complained looking once again at her make-up.

"My car, driver makes the rules and the passenger shuts their pie-hole" I smirked at her and threw the car in reverse and burned out of the drive way and headed into the city.

We had been at the club for a good five hours and I was beginning to get a little bored with dancing while Melanie was having the time of her life on the dance floor. Melanie and I were almost complete opposites, while she was shorter and brunette I was tall and blonde, while she was of Irish decent on my mothers side I was of Italian decent on my fathers side, she was a club girl and I was a bar girl, but in the end we got along like sisters and I was glad she had gotten shipped off to Boston a year ago. I sat down at the bar and scanned the room for anyone that I might know, but was sad to see that it was just a bunch of teens and older adults trying to recapture their youth. I laughed to myself as I watch a couple in their mid thirties dance like there was no tomorrow.

"Can I get you anything Cass?" Jimmy the bartender asked me and I asked for a beer, I was a girl but I was a fruity drink type of girl.

"Cass, come on you're missing all of the fun!" Melanie yelled in my ear and I shoved her back as my ear started ringing.

"Jesus I'm standing right here!" I grumbled not really feeling in the party mood anymore, "Plus I think you are having enough fun for the both of us" I smiled and got up off my bar stool as Melanie ran back out to the dance floor. I made my way through the crowd and back to the offices to chat with my dad for a bit.

"Hey dad, Melanie has gone completely nuts again" I laughed as I walked into the room, but stopped dead in my tracks when I looked up to see two men holding guns to the back of my dad's head.

"Spiritus Sancti" They both called out and pulled the triggers. I screamed and looked at my dad dead on the floor.

"Murph' tak' care of 'er, I'll finish up 'ere" The blonder haired man said with an Irish accent and the dark haired man nodded and walked towards me.

"No" I shook my head and the dark haired man stopped and looked at me, "No you are not going to touch me, now get out of my club" I pointed to the door and the dark haired man named Murphy or something turned to look at the blonde.

"Ya want me to do as she says Connor?" He asked and Connor stopped what he was doing and looked at Murphy.

"What 're ya takin' 'bout, tak' care of 'er" Connor said as he looked back down at his work. After shooting my father he had crossed his arms over his chest and put pennies on his eyes.

"I know who you are" I looked at Murphy with wide eyes, "You're the Saints" I steadied myself on the doorframe. I thought about my options and if I stayed here any longer I was for sure dead, so I turned and ran out of the door and out onto the dance floor. When I turned around I saw Connor and Murphy take off their masks and make their way into the crowd.

"Melanie!" I called frantically searching the dance floor for my cousin. I ran up to the bar out of breath and asked Jimmy if he had seen her.

"Yea she just went out back to smoke" I heaved a sigh of relief as I knew she would be safe out there, but then I remembered that I was no longer safe in here. I searched around and didn't see Connor or Murphy anywhere in sight so I took a deep breath and casually headed towards the door.

"Cassidy!" I heard my name being called and I turned around to see Melanie waving her hand in the air, I decided to ignore her and turned around to walk out of the club but ran into a black wall with blonde hair.

"And wher' do ya tink you're goin'" Connor grabbed my elbows and kept me in place.

"Please just let me go" I pleaded trying to see if he would fall for the poor helpless girl trick. When Connor didn't budge I crashed my boot heel into his foot so he would let me go, unfortunately he had steel toed boots on so all I did was break my heel, "Damnit" I mumbled.

"Now, behav' and come wit' us" Connor laced his arm with mine and helped me walk out of the club. As soon as we were on the street I looked around for any other people, but alas they were all in the club, no witnesses for my soon to be death. Connor dragged me down the street to the alley on the other side of the club and threw me up against the wall, "Stay" He pointed a finger at me and I closed my eyes knowing what was going to happen next.

"Cassidy!" I heard Melanie call from the front of the club and I opened my eyes and went to scream for her to stay away but Connor's hand was cupped over my mouth before I could get a sound out. He used his body weight against me and kept me slammed against the wall and his hand firmly over my mouth. Connor looked to Murphy and nodded in the direction Melanie's voice was coming from. I mumbled no into Connor's hand and struggled to try and get away, but it was no use.

"Keep ya'r mouth shut" Connor whispered in my ear as he continued to look towards the opening of the alleyway.

"Oh hi there" I could hear Melanie say as she saw Murphy I could just see her twirling her hair around her finger flirtatiously. I rolled my eyes and slightly shook my head at her stupidity even in my situation I was still judging my cousins decisions.

"Come wit' me" I heard Murphy say quietly and I could then hear Melanie's heels click on the sidewalk and get closer and closer to me and Connor. When Melanie turned the corner and saw me she gasped in horror, but she didn't have much time to worry about me because she was put in a similar situation as me against the opposite wall. She yelped out in surprise but the sound didn't travel very far because her mouth was soon covered by Murphy's hand.

"What's da plan brudder?" Murphy asked as he turned to look at Connor.

"Well she's the daughter of da boss, we do wha' we do best" Connor reached behind him and put a gun with a silencer in my face. I crossed my eyes to look at it as he had it centered on my forehead. I was the daughter of a mob boss and this is how I was going to die, I should have known. Connor let go of my mouth and gave me a stern look and I knew that if I made a sound I would be killed a lot quicker.

"Any last words?" Connor asked as he looked from me to Melanie.

"Mel, look at me" Melanie opened her eyes and met my gaze, "Listen it's going to be ok, we are going to be just fine, do you understand me" Melanie looked back at me and nodded slightly. I smiled to reassure her that everything was ok and then I told her to close her eyes and try not to listen.

"Now do your worst" I looked back and stared at Connor right in the eyes. If I was going to die I was sure as hell going to look my assailant in the eyes, after all I was my fathers daughter. I took a deep breath and continued to stare at him in the eyes. He watched me slowly and then looked at his gun and flexed his finger around the trigger.

"Dah" Connor grumbled and un-cocked his gun and put it back in its holster, "Go get out'a 'ere scram" Connor yelled and I stood there stunned like an idiot. Murphy let go of Melanie and turned to talk to Connor in a different language. I ran to my cousin and grabbed her hand before running out of the alley and heading for my car. As soon as we got to the car I took of my boots and jumped in pressing the ignition button and starting the car before throwing the car into drive and punching the gas down to the floorboard, I was determined to get away from the club as quickly as possible. I pulled in the driveway and turned off the car and just sat there focusing on my breathing.

"Cassidy?" Melanie broke my train of thought and I turned to look at her as she was shaking and trying to be strong.

"Let's go inside" I said and opened my door and walked to the front door of my house. I frowned at the thought of this being my house now, with my mother dying a few years ago and now my dad being murdered by the Saints, all of this was mine, I was 24 and inherited a house and a mob. I ignored the fact that anyone else was with me and walked straight to my father's liquor cabinet to get a drink. I was numb all over and I wanted to make sure that numbness lasted forever, I never wanted to feel again.

"Cassidy!" Melanie yelled, "What the fuck just happened!?" She continued to shout at me.

"I'm in shock not deaf" I turned my head to glare at her.

"What happened, who were those people, why did they want to kill you, what is going on?" Melanie frantically asked every question that came to minds.

"We don't talk about this, don't think about it, we go on with life like it never happened, we are alive, that's all that matters" I took a drink of my whiskey and left the room leaving Melanie shaking and fearful for her life.


	2. Chapter 2

I had fallen asleep in my clothes from the previous night and awoke when I heard the doorbell ring downstairs. I grumbled to myself and made my way down the stairs and to the door. I looked through the glass to see who it was and wasn't surprised when I saw two cops standing there. After I opened the door one of the cops stepped slightly into the house and took of his hat.

"How can I help you officer?" I asked still numb and half asleep and feeling like death warmed over.

"Miss Morelli I'm sorry but we are here to inform you that your father was killed last night at his club" The officer that had stepped into the house spoke calmly and watched my every movement. I could tell by the look on his face that he was shocked I didn't start crying or freaking out.

"Ma'am we're gonna need you to come down to the precinct and answer a few questions about last night" The cop that was still standing on the front porch said and stepped forward to lead me out.

"Hold on a minute" I heard Melanie call from behind me as I started to walk out the door, "Why does she need to answer any questions, she wasn't there last night" Melanie lied pushing past me to stand between me and the cops.

"Its just a precaution" The cop that was standing in the door nodded to Melanie.

"Well if she is going, I'm going with her" Melanie stood up straight and walked out the door after the first cop as I followed Melanie. The second cop closed the door behind me and followed our little train to the police car.

We made it down to the precinct and they took me back to one of the interrogation rooms for questioning.

"You don't seem very effected by the death of your father" The man that was questioning me stated.

"I'm a Morelli, death isn't a big deal in my family" I shrugged still in a state of no feeling since getting home last night. Not to mention I was tired, we had been out until around 2:30 in the morning when everything went down, so I had gotten about 3 hours of sleep last night, I required at least 8 at the minimum.

"And what does being a Morelli have to do with being ok with death?" He asked and I glanced up at him with a smile on my lips.

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to" I laughed to myself.

"Greenly, the captain wants to see you" A man walked in and called to Greenly the interrogator.

"I think we are done questioning you Miss Morelli, but don't be surprised if we call you back in during the investigation" Greenly said as he left the room. I laughed to myself at the thought of an investigation, everyone knew who my dad was there was never going to be an investigation, plus I already knew who the pricks were, I could always take justice into my own hands if I really wanted to. The man that had called Greenly away stepped in farther, and I recognized that it was my brother Joe.

"Joe" I smiled and stood up and hugged him, for the first time since all of this happened I finally felt something and a tear slid down my cheek. Joe may be my brother, but we never saw each other, he was a cop getting information for the mob and I was always too closely related to the mob, so it was hard for us to interact.

"I'm so sorry Cassidy, Jimmy told me you were at the club last night" Joe continued to hug me, "Did you see anything?" He asked and held me away from him so he could watch my face. I knew I couldn't lie as he looked into my eyes, he would catch me with ease.

"I saw it all Joe" And this time I broke down and started crying.

"Calm down, its ok" Joe stroked my hair as he hugged me again trying to get me to calm down.

"Joe it was them" I choked out looking up at my brother, "The Saints" I wiped my face and sniffled trying to compose myself again.

"I know, the description of the kill came in and we all knew who it was" Joe nodded as he spoke.

"Stop them" I growled taking the sadness I felt and turning it into anger, "Find them Joe and kill them, I want them to pay for what they have done" I locked eyes with my brother and his face turned to stone.

"What aren't you telling me Cass?" He grabbed my shoulder and lowered down to my eye level, "Because you would never be this upset and angry about just dad" Joe had a point, neither of us had ever really been close to our dad, but he was still family.

"Nothing" I looked away thinking of the predicament I was in last night. As I thought about it I remembered when Connor looked into my eyes and then didn't kill me, what exactly had clicked in his mind to let us go.

"Cassidy Isabella Morelli, what happened?" Joe tried to get more information out of me.

"I was confronted by the twins, but they let me and Melanie go, its fine Joe really" I pleaded with my brother as I saw his anger flare.

"Where is Melanie?" Joe asked looking around searching for our cousin.

"Leave her alone, she was just as effected" I pleaded with my brother to stop trying to get information.

"At least she will tell me the truth" Joe pulled away from me and walked out of the interrogation room.

"Joe!" I yelled after him and caught up to him, "I'll tell you when I feel I'm ready to talk about it, but right now all I want to do is go home and sleep" I sighed as I watched Joe's face relax.

"Ok" He nodded finally understanding that I didn't want to talk about it. "I'll escort you home" Joe wrapped his arm around my shoulder and we headed for the door.

"Melanie, its time to go home" I told her as we walked by the waiting room, she jumped up and Joe and her said their hello's as we walked out to Joe's squad car.

When we made it home I was ready to go to my room and go back to sleep, but when I walked in I was greeted by my three uncles; Geoff, Henry, and Bennie.

"Oh god, what are you guys doing here?" I asked getting really tired of everyone interrupting my day.

"Cassidy, we have some business to discuss" My uncle Geoff took my hand and led me into the secret mob room. Geoff was the one person in my family that I was the closest to after my mom died, honestly if it would have been him instead of my dad that got offed I would be ten times more upset. I walked in and was shocked to see that every member of the mob was already there.

"Can't this wait until tomorrow, or can you at least do this without me" I grumbled sitting down in my dad's big red leather chair.

"This can't be done without you because as much as we would like to keep you out of the family business, Cassidy your father left everything to you" My uncle Henry paused, "Even the mob business" I glanced up at my uncles and they just stared back at me.

"You're kidding right" I tilted my head trying to see if they were just playing a trick on me again.

"Unfortunately we aren't" Geoff stepped forward and clapped his hand on my shoulder.

"I can't deal with this right now, all of you are dismissed" I waved my hand in the air and walked out of the room and headed up the stairs.

"Cassidy wait" Melanie called racing up the stairs after me.

"What Melanie?" I stopped and turned to greet her. As much as I loved my cousin all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed and drift into my dream world where all of this wasn't happening.

"We need to talk about this, Joe is really worried about you" She reached her hand out to touch my shoulder but I dodged her hand and shook my head.

"I told you last night that we aren't going to talk about it, it never happened, now I need some sleep because apparently I have a mob to run in the morning" I explained as if nothing was new and continued up the stairs. As soon as I knew Melanie wasn't following me anymore I walked down the hallway and into my fathers room. I glanced around to make sure I was completely alone and I opened the door and walked into my dad's room and over to the portrait hanging on the wall. I opened the portrait and spun the dial that opened the safe and grabbed the prized gun that my dad had bought after he made his first million. I smiled to myself as I held the gun in my hand, it had been a while since I had held a gun but it was like riding a bike, you never forget. After I grabbed the thigh holster out of the safe I locked it up again and strapped the gun to my thigh. As I tried sneaking out of my dad's room I was stopped my Melanie.

"What are you doing?" She asked crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at me.

"Nothing just thought I'd go have some quiet time in his room" I shrugged her off and continued on to me room. I should have know that after all the time we have spent together she wouldn't believe me.

"You can't bullshit me Cassidy Morelli" Melanie stormed after me and then stopped in her tracks when she saw the gun strapped to my leg.

"Why do you have a gun strapped to your leg" Melanie took a step back and glared at me surprised.

"I'm in charge now and I ask the questions now" I grumbled and ignored her finally taking the mob boss role.

"Cassidy, don't you walk away from me" Melanie pleaded as she continued to stay back a bit. I was getting pissed off at everyone tiptoeing around me and trying to get me to talk, I was in charge now, in fact I was always in charge of myself. I was a big girl that could take care of herself and I wasn't going to stand for a threat in my own town.

"You wanna know why I have a gun strapped to my leg Melanie, do you really want to know?" I was stalking closer and closer to her with my eyes hard and my voice stern, "I'm going to go find those son of a bitches and I'm going to kill them or die trying" I placed my hand on the gun and turned away and walked into my room. I changed my shirt and brushed the knots out of my hair before grabbing a long jacket to cover my thigh strap. I walked back out of my room and Melanie was still standing in the hallway.

"If you're going then so am I" Melanie nodded to herself obviously trying to convince herself that it was the right thing to do and followed after me.

"Melanie I need you to stay here, look after things" I said as I continued down the stairs and straight to the gun safe for some ammunition.

"To hell with that, if you are going on a death mission, then I'm coming with you, you weren't the only one affected by last night" Melanie stood her ground and stepped in front of me as I was about to walk out of the house, "I want a gun too" She demanded. I laughed out loud at that and looked at her to make sure was kidding but I was shocked when she had a determined look on her face.

"Fine, pick one" I pointed to the safe and walked towards door to the garage. If we were going to go on a killing mission we needed a sleek car. I smiled as I looked at the black Lamborghini and grabbed the keys.

"We are not taking that car" Melanie looked at me with wide eyes.

"You have a gun in your pocket yet you don't wanna ride in this car, you have something wrong up in your head, now come on, I think I know where to go" I smirked opening the door and sliding down into the drivers seat.

"And where is it that we are going exactly" Melanie cautiously got into the car and looked around like the car was going to start driving itself and turn into a decepti-con.

"The best damn Irish bar in Boston, McGinty's" I smirked thinking of all the fun times I had, had at that bar. It was time to make one hell of an entrance. I threw the car into reverse and with a rumble and a shake the car was flying down the road toward the Irish part of Boston, "Time to have a little fun Cousin"

**A/N: So here is chapter two! I hope everyone enjoyed it. Thank you to **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_JineteHielo_ **for their Reviews. R&R Please!**


	3. Chapter 3

Connor's POV

The Night Before

"Why the hell are you letting them go?" Murphy charged at me speaking in German.

"She's a daughter of a mob boss, not the mob, no reason to off her" I replied in the same language. My brother was walking around in angry circles trying to wrap his head around everything that had transpired.

"They know what we look like" Murphy continued in the German dialect and pointed at the brunette who glanced back at us before following the blonde girl out of the alley.

"That blonde 'ill mak' sure nothin' is said 'bout us, no worries" I went back to speaking in English since the girls were no longer around.

"You got your 'ead on 'rong?" Murphy looked at me with his head tilted as I made sure I had everything that I came with.

"Oh, fuck off" I waved a hand at him trying to get him off my back, "Let's go 'ome" I said an walked towards the back of the alley so we could go out the same way we came in.

We arrived back at out apartment and I dragged my duffle bag into the room and threw it on my bed.

"Ya know, this killin' evil is 'ard work" Murphy complained flopping down in his bed and stretching. I looked at him and shook my head, Murphy acted like the younger brother even though we were twins, it was always good ol' Connor that took the big brother duties.

"Jesus, what time is it?" I asked rubbing my eyes and groaning to myself.

"4 AM" Murphy groaned after he looked at his watch and plopped back down on his bed.

"Time to get some sleep, Doc is expecting us tonight" I started taking my clothes off as I walked over to my bed, as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out cold, and I dreamt of the night's events.

Cassidy's POV

Present Day

I continued to rev the engine as we sat at a stop light in downtown Boston, we were getting close to the Irish neighborhood but I was growing more impatient by the minute. It had started to get darker as we made our way further into the city, I hadn't realized that we had been at the precinct as long as we had been. I looked at the dash and saw that the clock read 7:00 apparently I had been driving for a little longer than I anticipated.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Melanie asked finally relaxing in the car. I looked around at the buildings as we drive down the street and I admitted to myself that I was lost, but I was never going to tell her that.

"Of course I know, it should be right down this street" I turned a corner and headed down a random street, I just prayed that it was the right one because if it wasn't I would never hear then end of it. When I saw the familiar sign for McGinty's I practically jumped for joy, I knew even though I was drunk half the times I'd been here I would find it with ease. I parked the car and lifted the door so I could get out I stretched my legs and closed my door as I waited fro Melanie to get out so I could lock down the car.

"I hate that car" Melanie protested as she glared at the piece of machinery.

"Oh get over it" I mumbled to myself, sometimes Melanie could be such a girl. We proceeded into the pub and walked right up to the counter.

"Hey Doc" I smiled as the elderly man behind the counter walked over to Melanie and I.

"Cassidy, nice to see ya, wher' ya been?" He asked grabbing my usual drink, a beer.

"Eh, I've been around" I smiled taking the bottle from him.

"And what'll it be for you lass, Fuck! Ass!" Doc asked Melanie as he had one of his extraordinary fits.

"Um I'll have a beer" Melanie hesitated and looked at me shocked.

"It's just a thing he does" I shrugged my shoulders and turned around on my bar stool so I could scan the crowd of people while I drank my beer. After a few minutes of sitting out in the open I nudged Melanie in the arm.

"What?" she asked in a hushed tone.

"I think it would be best if we sat somewhere a little less noticeable" I explained and we headed over to a table in the back corner of the bar. If the Saints came in I wanted to surprise them not the other way around. We sat there for another hour as I had two more beers Melanie stopped after her first because she wanted to be on high alert, but I knew it was because she couldn't handle alcohol and attractive men.

"Can I get ya anythin' else Cassidy?" Doc asked when he came to check on us.

"No, I've probably had enough beer for now, don't want to get too carried away" I smiled, "But I do have a question to ask you" He leaned in to listen carefully.

"Ask away, Fuck! Ass!" He stayed close and waited for my response.

"You know of two Irish boys names Connor and Murphy?" I knew that if they frequented this place Doc would know them.

"The MacManus twins a course I know 'em" Doc nodded his head.

"Are you expecting them to come in tonight?" I pushed further, if I was able to get information as to whether they would arrive then all this drinking wouldn't be for nothing.

"Ya, they com' in ev'ry Saturday night" Doc explained and I thanked him for his answers and gave him a sweet smile, "Now Cassidy, don' you go getting' involved wit' those brothers" He warned with a smile. If only he knew how I was going to get involved with the brothers, if he only knew.

Connor's POV

I kicked Murphy's bed as he continued to sleep but he didn't even move, lucky little bastard can sleep through anything. I grumbled to myself as I walked over to the shower in our apartment and undressed. I turned on the water and screamed out when the water hit me, it was ice cold and not hot like I preferred.

"The fuck you yellin' 'bout?" Murphy growled as he rubbed his eyes and looked at me angrily.

"Awe look who finally decided to wak' up" I turned and glared at him mockingly, "No fuckin' hot water in this place" I complained but gritted my teeth as I pushed on and finished showering. As soon as I was done Murphy got up and took a shower leaving me to get dressed. We finished our routines and started for the door.

"Wait" I stopped and walked back to my duffel bag and grabbed one of my guns and then threw Murphy one of his, "Ya never know" I shrugged and we walked out of our apartment and closed the door behind us. We made the short walk down to McGinty's and sat down at the bar to order some drinks.

"'Ey Doc 'ow are ya" I reached my hand across the bar to shake Doc's hand.

"Doin' fine, your usual boys?" He asked and I nodded releasing his hand and turning around on my stool just to take a quick glance at who was in the bar. I scanned the room and my eyes glazed over a very familiar blonde face staring right back at me, but I pretended not to notice and turned back around to grab my glass and have a drink with my brother.

"Ya know ther' were two lassies askin' 'bout ya earlier" Doc informed Murphy and I.

"Wouldn't happen to be the two sittin' over ther' in the corner" I shifted my head only slightly so that if the blonde was still watching me she wouldn't know I had spotted her.

"Ya, you know 'em" Doc asked.

"We may 'ave encountered them last night" I said nonchalantly taking a drink out of my glass.

"What, ya gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me, what 're they doin' 'ere" Murphy started to turn around to look but I quickly grabbed his arm to stop him from looking.

"They are 'ere for a reason, what I'm not sure" I watched as my brother turned back around and hit the bar slightly.

"Told ya we should 'a takin' care of 'em last night" Murphy complained.

"These lassies are connected to the boss ya took down las' night?" Doc asked concern crossing his face.

"Yeap" I replied trying to think of something I could do to make this situation less fucked, but all I could do was rub my head and think about my regrets from last night.

Cassidy's POV

I glanced down at my phone on the table to see what time it was and it was just past 9:00 I was getting really impatient sitting here waiting and the gun strapped to my thigh was beginning to burn a hole though my pants I was so anxious to use it. When I glanced up I almost missed Connor and Murphy walk up to the bar and order something. Connor reached across the bar and shook Doc's hand, I was beginning to regret asking about them coming in because obviously they were good friends with Doc. As I continued to watch their every move Connor turned around on his bar stool similar to how I had earlier he glanced over us but I locked eyes with him for a split second and I knew he had seen me.

"Mel, they're here" I told my cousin and she immediately tensed up.

"I think I'm gonna need another beer" She fidgeted in her seat. She started to get up out of her chair but I stopped her and told her to sit back down.

"I'll go get us another round" I explained and walked towards the bar, I was determined to make myself known so I walked to the end furthest away from our table and the closest to the boys.

"Hey Doc can I get two more beers" I held out a twenty folded in between two fingers and made sure to raise my voice just enough to get their attention. As I wait for Doc to get to me I saw Murphy eye me suspiciously but Connor never even glanced in my direction even though I was pressed up against him due to the lack of space in between the patrons.

"Hey little lady, why don't you let me buy you a drink" A burly man sitting on the other side of me asked and I turned to glare at him.

"Fuck off!" I said through clenched teeth and continued to wait for Doc to wait on me.

"'Ere ya go lass" Doc put the beers up on the counter and I handed him the twenty.

"Keep the change" I winked and started to pull away and purposely knocked one of the beers into Connor and dropped it, "Shit!" I yelled and turned to see this finally caught Connor's attention, "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to, it's just that it's so hard to fit in between to get a drink" I smiled and grabbed a few napkins off of the counter and bent down to mob up the beer. Connor watched me intently and never said as word, I was determined to play this as if I didn't remember who he was.

"Doc can I get another beer, I dropped this one on this gentleman" I leaned back onto the bar and waited once again.

"'Ere you can 'ave mine, save ya the trouble of waitin' again" Connor handed me a beer bottle that he stood up and grabbed from the other side of the counter.

"Thanks, that's mighty kind of you" I smiled and accidentally brushed my hand against his as I grabbed the bottle from him. I felt an electric shock and I blamed it on the fact that this man killed my father and all I wanted was revenge so I kept my cool and put the necks of the bottles between my fingers and reached out my left hand for a hand shake, "I'm Cassidy" I introduced myself. Connor took my hand and brought it up to his lips like a proper gentleman and laid a soft kiss upon the back of my hand.

"Connor" He smiled back as I felt heat rise to the surface of my cheeks.

"Nice to meet you Connor, and sorry about the beer, and thanks for the new one, my cousin will appreciate it" I nodded to Connor and made my way back to the table and handed Melanie her beer.

"What the hell was that all about?" She asked frantically and I just ignored her as I sat down and held up my beer to Connor who was still watching me from across the bar.

Connor's POV

"The hell was that 'bout" Murphy asked me as I watched Cassidy walk back to her table after she sat down she raised her beer in thanks and I raised my glass as a response. This woman was supposed to be the enemy but she was playing a deadly came of friend or foe.

**A/N: So here is chapter three, don't get used to two updates in one day I had lots o' inspiration and it just happened to work out that way. Enjoy! Thank you **_McBrideReedusLover_** for your review. R&R Please!**


	4. Chapter 4

Murphy's POV

I watched my brother as he raised his glass in response to Cassidy raising hers to him from across the bar, I grumbled to myself and turned back to face the bar.

"The hell was that 'bout?" I asked not getting what Cassidy was up to and why my brother hadn't taken care of her just now like he should have last night.

"Patience my brudder, patience" Connor replied back and set his drink back down on the bar.

"You've lost your fuckin' mind" I complained downing what was left in my glass and holding it up to let Doc know I wanted another. I side glanced at my brother and all he did was grumble and get up off of his bar stool mumbled something under his breath and walked back towards the bathrooms. I watched him leave and shook my head as I saw Cassidy glance in his direction and get up to follow him. I decided to ignore the fact that a woman we tried to kill last night was now following my brother back into a secluded area. I halted my thoughts and immediately jumped up from my stool, I walked at a fast pace towards the bathroom as to not cause too much alarm. When I made it back to the men's room Connor stepped out and eyed me suspiciously.

"I don' need ya to shake it for me" Connor commented as he almost ran into me.

"Fuck off!" I yelled and pushed past him and into the men's room, I walked in and decided to use the restroom since I was here anyway. As I finished and walked out of the bathroom I saw Cassidy returning to her table and talking with the brunette that was with her, I recall her name being Melanie.

"Ah, 'ere he is" Connor clapped me on the back when I returned to my seat and continue to eye Cassidy and Melanie suspiciously.

"You don' find it a tad bit weird tha' them two 're in 'ere the night after our encounter" I turned to face Connor tired of the way everyone was acting.

"I find it odd, but tis nothing to worry 'bout" Connor shrugged off my question. I glanced back at Cassidy and spotted a glint of something on her thigh, so I flicked Connor in the ear and pointed to his girl.

"I find it odd tha' she acts like she don' know ya, but she's packin' a gun" I leaned against the bar and watched Connor's face harden like stone and his jaw clench.

"Two beers Doc" Connor called keeping an eyes on Cassidy and Melanie and before I could say anything more Connor got up and walked over to their table with the beers in hand. I sat where I was and watched from a distance as the whole thing went down.

Melanie's POV

I was talking to Cassidy about possibly going to church tomorrow morning and how if we wanted to be awake to go we would need to leave now when I noticed that her eyes were no longer focused on me. I stopped my speech and turned and looked up to see Connor standing at out table, I rolled my eyes at the whole situation. If Cassidy was so adamant about killing the two why didn't she just do it and get it over with. I subconsciously placed my hand inside my jacket pocket and curled my fingers around the small handgun I had placed there earlier. When I realized what I was doing and what I was thinking about I shook my head and tried to focus on what Connor and Cassidy were doing.

"Jus' thought I'd bring ya some more beers, on da house" Connor smiled widely at Cassidy and handed her a beer and placed the other in front of me.

"Well that is quite gentlemanly of you Connor" Cassidy smiled back beaming like a kid in a candy store, but I could see the fire burning deep in her eyes and that is what scared me the most. Cassidy had always been one to put on a show, she would feel one emotion but she would show you a whole different one, but it was the emotion she portrayed in her eyes that you had to watch out for. As I snapped back to reality and stopped focusing on the slow burn that was engulfing my cousins eyes I interrupted Connor's speech.

"Well thanks Connor, I'm sure you have some friends to get back to" I smiled politely and leaned back to glance at where Connor came from and just as I had suspected Murphy was glaring at either Connor, or us I couldn't quite tell. Connor stopped speaking and was taken back by my rude comment and I could feel Cassidy trying to burn holes into my skull as I stared in Murphy's direction.

"Better yet" Cassidy practically had to unglue her eyes from me as she looked up at Connor, "Why don't you and your friends come join us" Cassidy smirked at me as I snapped my head back to look at her.

"I couldn't impose" Connor said and it sounded weird coming from him, I had a feeling he never in his life had said that until now.

"No, I insist, Melanie move your ass" She said as she got up off her chair as I moved to the chair furthest away from Connor and she took the outside seat. Connor turned slightly and motioned for Murphy to come over, Murphy grabbed his drink and hurriedly walked over to the table. As he walked towards us it was almost like he was walking in slow motion, then I remembered why we were here and what the two Irish men had done to us. Then again I couldn't forget when I first saw Murphy and how I was undoubtedly attracted to him, and when he spoke I melted, that was until he was shoving me up against a wall and not in a pleasurable way. I was snapped out of my thoughts once again by Cassidy talking.

"Hi I'm Cassidy and this is my cousin Melanie, you are?" Cassidy looked at Murphy as he sat down in the chair across from me.

"Name's Murphy" He nodded as a form of greeting.

"Nice to meet you" She smiled, if I was her my face would already be killing me from all the smiling she was doing.

"So what bring two pretty gals such as ya'selves down to McGintys tonigh'" Connor asked as he leaned back in his chair making himself at home.

"Wanted to have a little fun" I heard myself say and I hadn't realized I was speaking until Connor looked over at me.

"Fun, ah there ain't no fun in goin' to a bar" Connor said before he took a drink of his beer and laughed to himself.

"The fun is at a club" Murphy finally spoke and I glanced over at him with narrowed eyes, these two were playing some sort of game and I didn't like it.

Cassidy's POV

"Clubs are for party girls, I'm a drinker not a dancer, but Melanie here knows how to bust some moves" I laughed as I looked at Melanie's face turn bright read.

"Is tha' right" Connor placed his elbows on the table and leaned in before he spoke again, "Ya know I 'eard that some guy got killed over at a club on the udder side a town" Connor glanced at me for a split second and I knew the jig was up, they had finally decided to confront us and we were far away from any kind of escape.

"Oh really?" Melanie pressed on obviously still playing the part, but I could hear a slight slur in her speech as she leaned onto the table to get closer to Connor.

"Yea, they say it was the Saints, whoever da hell day 're" Connor and Murphy laughed out loud a little too hard and I was starting to get very uncomfortable.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back, just need some fresh air" I excused myself from the table with a smile and headed to front door. As soon as I was outside I started to reach for my cell phone so I could call Joe and tell him where the Saints were. As I tried to focus on my phone with the alcohol and lack of lights messing with my vision to hands wrapped around my waist and slid down to my thighs. Before I could realize what was happening Connor had already slipped my gun out of my holster and held it in his hand when I turned to yell at him.

"Now what is a gal like you doin' wit a piece like this, gotta be worth wha' 100,000 dollars" Connor inspected my gun and tossed it back and forth between his hands getting a feel for it.

"Give it back" I demanded, but Connor held it out of reach when I lunged for it.

"Nah I don' tink so" He smirked shoving it down the back of his pants and holding his hands up to show he wasn't going to do anything, "Now 'and over da phone" He lowered one hand and held it with his palm facing up.

"Give me my gun and I'll give you the phone" I glared at him holding my phone in my hand like I was holding on for dear life.

"You're a fiery little lass aren't ya" Connor stepped forward and tried to grab my hand but I pulled it away before he could get a hold of it.

"Give me the damn phone an' your cousin won' get 'urt" I stopped in my tracks when Connor threatened Melanie and hesitantly handed over my phone.

"What's your game here Connor?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest and shifting weight to one leg.

"No game, just tryin' ta figure out your plan" He paused, "Did ya really tink you 'ere gonna come into da bar an' kill us?" Connor laughed at his own suggestion, but it wasn't too far from what I wanted to do to him and his brother.

"No, I was gonna get you alone first" I smiled devilishly at him trying to distract him enough to get either my phone or my gun back.

"Well 'ere we 're alone, you with no gun an' no phone, bet this wasn't how it was supposed to go eh" Connor shoved my phone in his pocket and started to walk away.

"Hey get back here, you still have my things" I yelled after him but he didn't stop. I started after him and when I was about to reach for my gun tucked in his pants he whipped around and grabbed my arms and held them against me. He then slowly backed me up so my back was against the wall and I had flash backs from the previous night.

"Why don't you just do it, get it over with, huh?" I looked up at Connor but this time it wasn't with fear or begging for sympathy it was with rage and passion, passion for wanting him to suffer just like my father and I had, "But you can't do it, for the same fucked up reason as last time, whatever you have going on in your mind leave me out of it and give me my fucking gun" I yelled the last part through clenched teeth as I tried using my body weight against him so I could get away. Connor started to laugh at my poor attempt at a struggle.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" I glared up at him and he finally let me go and I fell forward a bit from the left over inertia of my struggle, "Give, me, my gun" With ever word I said I shoved Connor with all my might, while he did budge and stumble back on occasion he still wasn't giving me what I wanted.

"Fine" I growled and stormed back into the bar and straight for Melanie, "Take off your jacket and hand it to me" I whispered in her ear. She did as she was told and slipped her jacket off and handed it over.

"She's got the smokes and the warmest jacket" I smiled at Murphy as he looked at me confused. Before I could head for the front door again Connor came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Act like everyting is fine, you and I have some things to talk 'bout" I smiled and leaned into his body behind me playing the part of a drunk push over. Connor turned me around in his arms and lead me back to the door that led to the alley.

"Don' do anything I wouldn't do" I heard Murphy yell after his brother. I held my breath when we made it outside because I was terrified of what Connor was going to do.

**A/N: Chapter Four! Supper excited to have some readers on this hope everyone is enjoying. Thank you so much **_McBrideReedusLover_** for your review. Wanna be mentioned just R&R Please!**


	5. Chapter 5

Melanie's POV

I watched as Connor and Cassidy walked toward the very back of the bar in a close proximity. I had known Cassidy my whole life and by no means was she easy even with five beers in here, so I was slightly concerned by what was going on between her and Connor. Murphy was laughing to himself about his comment to Connor as they walked away when I finally focused back on him.

"So, Connor's your brother right?" I asked just trying to drum up some casual conversation.

"Yea" Murphy's smile faded along with the light that was previously in his eyes. I could tell that he was shy, just like me. I only really relaxed when I was around people I knew or if I was dancing my ass off at a club, bars were never my thing.

"So how old are you?" I asked.

"What is this twenty questions?" Murphy got agitated and looked up at me.

"Sorry just trying to talk a little bit, it seems Connor and Cassidy really hit it off, figured we could at least get to know each other" I smiled weakly and I saw a glint of something in Murphy's eyes and he seemed to relax a bit.

"Sorry dint mean to snap on ya, not too accustomed to being around new people without Connor being the center of attention" He shrugged and seemed to open up a bit.

"Is Connor older?" I asked curious as to why Connor did most of the talking.

"Nope, twins, but he acts like the big brudder" Murphy explained and I felt myself slipping back into my crazed girl face with the way he said brother. Focus Melanie! I mentally screamed at myself, but he was so nice and his blue eyes were like a pool of heaven that I wanted to dive right into.

"I see" I nodded in agreement still dazed and confused my the thoughts going through my head.

"'re you alright, you look a tad bit green" Murphy asked and I just smiled at him and shrugged my shoulders not really having the space in my brain to compute a sentence let a lone make my mouth move, "Stay there I'll get ya some water" Murphy hurried and went to the bar and ordered a glass of water, when he came back I took a drink and immediately felt better.

"Sorry I'm not used to drinking this much" I confessed and was ashamed that I couldn't hold my alcohol like Cassidy and the boys.

"It's ok, not everyone can 'andle it" Murphy smiled and I thought I was just going to melt away in my chair.

"I'm going to go to the restroom, I'll be back" I informed Murphy and stumbled toward the ladies room. When I got in I walked straight to the sink and splashed some cold water on my face to try and wake me up from this haze I had slipped into. Cassidy always told me I latched onto the first attractive guy when I was drunk but I didn't believe her until now. Speaking of Cassidy I realized that Connor and Cassidy were still nowhere to be seen and I began to worry. I suddenly realized that I was stuck in this bar with a psycho killer and Cassidy had both guns with her. Shit!

Cassidy's POV

"Get your damn hands off me" I growled after we were outside in the alley, "What the hell is your problem, you know the last guy that touched me like that without my permission had his hands cut off and fed to my dog" I was yelling in Connors face pissed that he had taken me away from the safety of the crows once again.

"Calm down" Connor rubbed his forehead and then pinched the bridge in between his eyes, "Ya givin' me a damn headache" I laughed out loud at this.

"I'm giving you a headache, oh that's rich, you're giving me a damn heartache!" I screamed in his face and turned my back to him when I realized what I had said. Although my father and I had never been close I missed him, he was the one who took care of the bad guys threatening me and now he was gone and I had to put up with scum like Connor on my own. I wiped away the solo tear that escaped my eye and turned to face Connor again, "Just give me my gun and phone and Melanie and I will stay out of your hair" I said in an exasperated voice, the alcohol was beginning to ware off and my sleepless night was catching up with me. Connor eyed me to make sure I was being sincere and I just huffed and pushed past him to go back into the bar.

"Hey" He called and I stopped and turned around, he walked to catch up with me and handed me my cell phone out of his pocket and then reached back for the gun never taking his eyes off mine, "He wasn't the first and he won't be the last" Connor said as he slipped the gun back into my holster like and expert, I nodded and turned to walk back into the bar. When I arrived back at our table Melanie and Murphy were deep in a conversation but I rudely interrupted and threw Melanie her jacket.

"Time to go" I demanded and continued on towards the front door not bothering to wait for her to catch up.

"What the hell Cassidy, I was finally getting Murphy to talk" Melanie complained as she finally came outside.

"Melanie, they are killers, we weren't here to socialize" I said harshly and unlocked the car and got in.

"What happened?" Melanie asked cautiously as she settled into the car.

"Nothing and that's what I'm pissed about" I glared out the window and started the car. The entire trip home was spent in complete silence and I ignored Melanie the second we got home all I wanted to do was crawl into bed a never wake up.

Connor's POV

I watched Cassidy storm over to the table and then continue out the door, Melanie said he goodbyes and apologized for the quickness of their departure before running after Cassidy herself.

"What did ya say to 'er? Murphy asked as I sat down across from him.

"The truth" I said matter of factly and took a drink from the beer that Cassidy had left.

"Are ya fuckin' nuts!" Murphy looked at me but all I did was stare off into space knowing that the battle between Cassidy and I had only just begun.

"Time to go 'ome brudder, church in da monrin'" I downed the rest of the beer and stood up and headed for the door. Murphy followed suit and soon we were both walking down the sidewalk headed back to out apartment. Once again I was feeling regret for the life I didn't take, but I figured in the end one of us would win the great battle between saints and sinners.

The Next Morning

"Murph" I threw a shirt at my brother as he continued to sleep, "Murph" I yelled again but this time I threw a bottle of water at him and he startled awake.

"I'm up!" He retorted and fell back down onto his bed.

"Get up, 'ere gonna be late ta church" I grumbled trying to wake myself up in the process, these late nights were really starting to catch up with me.

"I'm goin'" Murphy dragged himself out of bed and proceeded to get dressed. After we were both clothed we walked out of the apartment grabbing our rosaries and headed to church.

Melanie's POV

"Cassidy" I called softly opening the door to Cassidy's room. When I didn't see her move or anything I raised my voice and quickly repeated her name.

"What!?" She called out clearly still asleep.

"Are you coming to church, if not I still need a ride" I stood there in the middle of her room waiting for a reply.

"Ask uncle Geoff to take you" She grumbled before rolling over in bed and crashing her head back into her pillow. I sighed to myself and walked back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Hey Geoff can you give me a ride to church Cassidy is a little hung-over and doesn't feel the need to confess her sins" I smiled to myself as Geoff laughed.

"Of course Mel, just give me a second to put my coffee in a to-go mug" Geoff replied and went on a search for a mug. Geoff had always been the one to accept me into the family, well him and Cassidy's father but he wasn't exactly there anymore. The rest of the Morelli family just saw me as a good for nothing Irish slut that came to mooch off my cousins family, but none of that was true, especially the slut part. When Geoff poured his coffee into a mug and grabbed the keys to his car we headed out the door and made our way to church. I wasn't really a super religious type but being a Catholic I tried to go to church every Sunday even if all I did was sit there and think about all the things I could be doing that were better than church. My mother had always told me how important it was to go to church and my aunt had, had the same ideas before she passed away, but obviously none of them had rubbed off on Cassidy. I bowed my head as a prayer was said and glanced around the floor like I always did, I could feel a slight headache settling in and I knew I would soon regret all the beer I drank last night. When the prayer was done I looked up and about feel off the pew because when I glanced up I saw Connor and Murphy walking back down the row of pews headed for the front entrance to the church.

"Shit" I whispered under my breath and ducked down and hid my face so that they wouldn't see me, but when I glanced up to see if they were gone they has halted their steps and were staring right at me. I smiled to try and make the encounter go by without any trouble and both Connor and Murphy nodded at me before continuing on their journey. I turned to Geoff and told him I would be right back and raced after the boys.

"Hey!" I called after them as they were walking down the sidewalk away from the church. Murphy was the first to turn around and he hit Connor on the arm to make him do the same. When they were stopped I continued to walk towards them not really knowing what I was going to do once I caught up, "What did you say to Cassidy last night?" I demanded finding some pent up frustration to release.

"The truth" Connor stated looking up at the sky and squinting behind his sunglasses, "That we do wha' we do an' we ain't 'bout to stop now" At this Connor was clearly done talking to me and turned around and started walking away again. Murphy stood there a moment longer eyeing me as I did him, his brother and my cousin obviously had some sort of fight going on and Murphy and I were just the side kicks.

"Murph" Connor called after his brother and Murphy nodded to me before he ran to catch up with him. I stood basking in the sun for a few minutes before I composed myself and headed back into the church. When church finally let out at ten Geoff drove me home and we were shocked to see a dozen squad cars parked outside and caution tape around the guest house.

"What the hell happened here?" I asked myself as we walked up to the main house. When I walked in I spotted Joe and rushed over to him asking what had went down.

"They struck again" Was all Joe said and my first thought was Cassidy, but I glanced around the room and spotted her standing next to the police captain. She was fully awake now and she had showered and curled her blonde hair in big wavy curls she had gotten dressed up pretty nicely for a Sunday at home, but then I remembered that she was in charge of the mob now and she would always have to look presentable. When she finished with the Captain she headed in my direction he black pumps clicking on the hardwood floor.

"Lucky you, maybe next time I'll drag my ass out of bed and follow you to church" She laughed giving me a hug.

"Cassidy who was it?" I asked not really knowing if I wanted the answer.

"Uncle Bennie, he was staying in the guest house us aunt Paula and him were fightin' didn't know anything was up until one of the maids went in to get the sheets" Cassidy explained and I could tell she was only slightly effected, her and her control of emotions.

"I'm so sorry" I said shaking my head.

"It ain't your fault unless you did" Cassidy smiled at me clearly rested from the past two days.

"No, I'm sorry I didn't stop them, they were at church and they left, I confronted them about what Connor said to you last night and then this happened" I was speaking in a quickened voice trying to get all the words in order before they spilled out of my mouth. Cassidy studied my face and then brought me into a hug.

"You couldn't have done anything Mel, they are determined to hurt the mob, nothing you said could have changed that" She rubbed my back trying to get the words to sink into my brain, but all I could think about was the fact that I let them walk away and they headed straight for the house while Cassidy was here. I finally knew how Cassidy felt when she wanted to immediately kill them the next day, I wanted to hunt them down and stop them before they killed anymore of our family.

**A/N: So here is chapter five thought I'd get this done before class so people could read today. Thank you **_McBrideReedusLover_** for your review. Wanna be mentioned R&R readers!**


	6. Chapter 6

Connor's POV

"What now?" Murphy asked glancing back at where Melanie had been and continued to keep pace with me.

"We 'ave another hit" I stated not expanding on who I was talking about and continued down the street towards the apartment.

"Who we goin' after now?" Murphy asked as I gathered everything and threw it in my duffel bag before heading toward the door again.

"Another Morelli, the next in line to take over the mob" I answered and continued out the door. After Murphy finally gathered his things he met me on the street and we headed towards the bus stop. I knew that since we had taken out the original Italian mob boss they would need a replacement and according to my sources it would be one of his brothers. My source had also informed me that one of his brothers had recently had a fight with his wife and was staying in the guesthouse of the main mansion. So Murphy and I made our way across town and to the Morelli Mansion, "'ere we are" I said as Murphy and I approached the mansion and avoided the security in place and headed for the guesthouse. Murphy and I readied our guns and I stepped forward and knocked on the door, when the man opened the door Murphy and I charged in and forced him onto his knees. We lined our guns up on the back of his head as we started our family prayer. While we continued our prayer the man started speaking in Italian, obviously praying to his own god.

"Spiritus Sancti" Murphy and I called out in unison and fired our guns. We finished our ritual and slipped out of the guesthouse before anyone knew we were there.

"Time to get some sleep" I slung my arm around Murphy's shoulders as we walked back down the sidewalk towards the bus stop. I kept my eye out for cop cars just in case we had made too much commotion, but thankfully we were able to catch a bus before anyone had figured out what we had done. We walked to the back of the bus and took our seats and I couldn't help but smirk at our accomplishment, another mob guy down and we were only just beginning. Finally we made it back the apartment and I slammed my body down on the bed and let the lack of sleep catch up with me and take me off to dream land.

Cassidy's POV

I stood at the door and ushered out the last of the cops that had arrived at my house to investigate the death of my Uncle Bennie. Finally the house was cop free and I could relax, I heaved a sigh of relief and kicked off my pumps. I padded my way to the kitchen and grabbed an apple to eat before I headed back toward the main living room.

"Cassidy, are you ok?" Melanie asked sitting down next to me on the couch.

"Yeap" I replied preoccupied by the TV they were reporting the death of my uncle and were giving the description of the kill and linking it back to the saints and all I could do was watch.

"You don't sound very sure about that?" Melanie pushed on trying to get me to open up or something.

"Mel you know me, things don't faze me" I smiled and I genuinely felt ok, I mean I did lose an uncle but my father always told me that family wasn't always in this world forever, but they would be waiting in the next world when I was ready.

"If you say so, I'm still a little rattled about everything" Melanie confessed and I looked at her. Comforting was never my specialty but I placed my hand gently on Melanie's shoulder and she relaxed and I embraced her in a hug.

"It's going to be ok, we are safe" I explained patting her on the back.

"Yea, but for how long?" Melanie pulled back from our embrace and looked at me her eyes slightly watering.

"For as long as we have each other, I'll watch your back if you watch mine" I smiled and gave her a playful shove. She smiled back and sniffled finally feeling that things could look up on this dreary day. I turned my attention back to the TV and vanished into the world that was reality television, it was reality but at least it wasn't my reality.

"Cass?" Melanie startled me breaking my concentration by speaking.

"Yea" I only glanced slightly in her direction.

"What are we going to do about the Saints, we know them and they know us, they go to my church" Melanie seemed to be really struggling with the thought of them knowing just who we were.

"There's nothing we really can do, they obviously don't want to kill us" I finished the thought in my head adding now to the end of the sentence. I was still very perplexed by the fact that Connor and Murphy had let us go not once but twice. Melanie bunched up her eyebrows not thrilled with my answer, "Listen we can't dwell on what happened and fret about what might happen, we just have to take one day at a time and everything will go back to normal, it'll be like the Saints were never here" I patted her leg and got up to go back into the kitchen to throw away my apple. I took a moment and stood in the kitchen alone not believing what I was trying to make my cousin believe, nothing would ever be the same again because Connor and Murphy had to come into our lives.

Next Day

I startled awake at the sudden shock that had befallen my dreams and I grabbed at my chest trying to calm my heart rate. Once upon a time I was excited to escape into my dreams but after the dream I just had I never wanted to go back to sleep. I grumbled to myself as I looked at the clock and saw that it was only 7 AM, way too early for me to be awake on a Monday morning, but I sure as hell didn't want to go back to sleep. I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling of my room just trying to get the image out of my mind. I had been standing in the secret mob room downstairs when I heard the door creak open when I turned around I saw someone that I never expected to see, Connor, he walked in by himself and sat down at the far end of the table. Everything was silent as we stared at each other from across the table and I couldn't help but feel like a trapped rat. As I glanced in the direction of the door I heard a loud clank and I turned back to watch Connor place one of his guns on the table.

"Listen, I don't know why you're here but you need to leave" I spoke but it didn't sound like my voice nothing seemed familiar anymore except the cold stare that Connor had fixed on me. Without a word he stood up and grabbed his gun before walking over to me and gently pressing a hand on my chest and pushing back into the chair that was sitting behind me. I looked up at him and I could feel myself starting to sweat in anticipation of what exactly was going to happen next. Connor looked from me to his gun and then held it up to my forehead like he had that night we first met, but unlike the first night when I looked into his eyes I knew he was going to pull the trigger. I awoke just before he could shoot me and I was determined to never go back to that dream again, it was all too real when I thought about it. After laying in bed for another hour I finally decided to get up and do something productive, I walked to my bathroom and undressed and hopped in the shower. After showering and styling my hair similar to how it had been yesterday I walked into my walk-in closet and tried to decide what to wear. I settled on a red dress that had a side slit that reached up to my lower thigh and had slight ruffles at the bottom, I paired with it my black ballerina flats and headed downstairs. When I walked into the kitchen my Uncle Geoff greeted me as he poured himself another cup of coffee.

"Aren't you tired of babysitting us yet?" I asked pouring myself a glass of orange juice and taking a drink.

"I'm partly staying here for my own safety" He laughed leaning against the counter. I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread, if the Saints were going after the mob eventually everyone I knew would be dead, including the one family member that I cared about the most.

"That's not funny" I punched him in the arm playfully as he drank his coffee, "So what's on the agenda for Lady Boss Man?" I asked knowing that I would eventually have to take the job of being the head of the mob seriously.

"Well everyone is coming in today in about an hour to discuss what happened to Bennie and how we could stop this and protect ourselves so it would be wise for you to show up and show everyone that you are trying to help" I nodded as Geoff spoke and I knew that I would need to reassure my people that we were going to try and take care of the Saints while also letting them know that their safety is valued.

"Sounds like I've got a full day" I smiled and walked out of the kitchen and to the secret mob room so I could drum up some ideas of how to exactly kill two birds with one stone, but nothing was coming to mind.

"You have all been called here today to discuss the misfortune that was the killing of my father and Bennie, although we are all saddened by the events we want you all to know that precautions have been taken to make sure that this does not happen again" I spoke to the entire Italian mob and they stared back at me absorbing every word I said, I never thought it would have been this easy to fill my father's shoes.

"What about the Saints?" One of the men asked.

"Yes, about the Saints, I was hoping you all could help me with them" I paused and the faces of the men in front of me immediately went pale, "Grow a pair" I grumbled, "These men have been able to do what they do for so long because they strike fear into the hearts of all evil in Boston, but I'm standing here a woman telling you that they are nothing to fear" I walked behind the chairs of the men and continued my speech, "As someone who has been face to face with the Saints and clearly survived there is no reason to lock yourselves in a room and never emerge. The thing to do is to rally all of your able bodied henchmen and send them on a mission to hunt down the Saints" I finished and stood in front of my chair with my arms crossed.

"But how are we going to find them, no one knows who they are?" One of the men questioned. I stood there contemplating on whether or not to sell Connor and Murphy out and tell my men just who they really were, but I halted myself and dismissed the idea, them not knowing who they were would keep them occupied and not focused on fear.

"Send out your men and try to get as much information as possible and go from there, they can't be that hard to find" I sat down in my chair and thought to myself that Melanie had found them twice how hard could it be to find them a third time.

"You all have your orders, your dismissed" Geoff said and everyone got up from their seats and filed out of the rooms leaving me sitting there. My uncle walked to the door and closed it behind the last person to leave and turned to me.

"Did you forget to tell me something?" He asked and I glanced up at him and shook my head.

"Not that I know of" I started to push my chair back so I could get up but Geoff pushed my chair back in and sat down next to me.

"You encountered the Saints and you didn't tell me" He gave me a stern look and there was a clear look of disapproval plastered on his face and I couldn't help but feel ashamed.

"It wasn't a big deal" I lied trying to get him to leave it be.

"Cassidy Morelli, you are as bad as your father was at lying" He smirked and leaned in closer, "Now spill"

**A/N: Chapter six, I swear I am on a roll, Hope you Enjoy! Thank you **_McBrideReedusLover_** for your review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	7. Chapter 7

Murphy's POV

I awoke to complete silence in the apartment and I glanced around the room and didn't see Connor in his bed, I forced myself out of bed and walked to the door and opened it but Connor was nowhere to be seen. I ran a hand through my hair and pulled a t-shirt over my head and pulled on a pair of pants before I headed out the door and down the stairs. When I made it to the sidewalk I still couldn't see Connor anywhere and I was confused as to why he would just leave without saying anything. I decided my best bet was to go down to McGinty's and see if he had gone there.

"Hey Doc" I walked into the bar and waved at Doc, but was disappointed when I looked around the room and didn't see Connor, "'Eh has Connor been in 'ere?" I asked approaching the counter.

"Nope, ain't seen 'em" Doc replied and I told him thanks before I left the bar and continued down the street, I thought for a second that he might go to the church and that was the next place I went. When I walked in I didn't see too many people there and out of the few that were there, none of them were Connor. I sat down in the back pew and heaved a sigh as I was at a loss of ideas, I bowed my head and decided to get some praying in while I was trying to think of where else Connor could have gone. I glanced up when I heard the squeak of a door back by the confession boxes and was shocked to see Melanie coming out of one, I tried my best to stay hidden in the back of the church but failed when she spotted me. I figured she would continue on her way and ignore the fact that I was there but she walked straight towards me and sat down a few feet away from me on the same pew.

"What are you doing here?" She asked not looking at but looking straight ahead as if I wasn't sitting right next to her.

"I could ask ya the same ting" I replied leaning back and stretching my arms out on the pew behind me.

"Confession" She replied not expanding on the answer.

"Lookin' for my brudder" I explained and told her how when I woke up he was nowhere to be seen and how I had checked McGinty's and was out of ideas.

"Well I don't think I can help you there, I don't frequent places murderers go" Melanie said hatefully and started to get up but I leaned across the pew and grabbed her hand. She whipped around and glared at my hand and then at my face, I let go and she seemed to relax.

"Listen, just sit down, weren't ya the one who wanted to get to know each udder" I offered and she eyed me wearily before taking her seat again, "Look 'ere in a church not much I can do" I tried a smile and she laughed to herself.

"That's supposed to make me feel better" She finally glanced in my direction and I shrugged not really knowing what to say.

"Ya know, we dint exactly choose this life, it chose us" I told her as we sat there, and I felt that it was the truth. That day when we had taken out the Russian guys it was really just the luck of the draw and the fact that we could help purify the city of evil made sense.

"Is that what you tell all the girls you try to kill" Melanie laughed and finally seemed to relax.

"Jus' the pretty ones" I smirked and she looked away but I could see her cheeks were flushed.

"Cassidy would kill me if she knew we were sitting here talking and I didn't have the guts to take care of you" She looked down at her hands and fidgeted.

"Connor would jus' kill me for still talkin' to ya after everyting that's gone down, Cassidy promised to stay away from us, but we seem to keep runnin' into each udder" I shook my head thinking back over all of our encounters.

"Things would have been different if you hadn't of threatened us or killed my Uncle" She continued to glance down at her hands.

"Somethin' 'rong wit your hands?" I asked trying to get her attention off of whatever was keeping her distracted.

"Yea, they aren't helping me walk out of here, just like my feet" She finally looked up and I saw a slight spark in her eyes but I didn't think anything of it.

"Well I ain't keepin' ya 'ere" I paused, "Ya free ta leave" I leaned back and stared towards the front of the church.

"I never said I was mad at my feet for not taking me out of here" Melanie looked forward again and I could tell something was up.

Melanie's POV

I continued to stare at the giant cross at the front of the church trying to keep my mind out of the fantastic gutter that it frequently slipped into every time I thought of Murphy. This man was dangerous and here I was fantasizing about being with him, I couldn't argue that he was very attractive and the fact that his accent suited him didn't help, but the fact that he had killed two people relatively close to me and his brother had threatened my cousin he was beyond off limits.

"Ah" I heard Murphy say and I was regretting my previous comment, I would need to go confess after this whole conversation.

"Well I guess I should be going" I said but continued to sit there, my head was telling me to run as fast as I could away from this psycho but a little part of me wanted to stay here and figure out why I was so intrigued by him in the first place.

"Yea I suppose" Murphy stated continuing to sit there as well. When none of us moved for another few minutes I started laughing out loud to myself.

"What's so funny to ya?" Murphy asked looking at me confused.

"This whole situation is funny, right?" I paused looking at him, "You're trying to hurt my family but for some reason I feel sympathy for you and I understand why you're doing it, but at the same time I can't say that it's right, and this part of me keeps telling me that you are better than this, but that same part of me is telling me that you wouldn't be who you were doing anything else. Who is Murphy MacManus?" I rambled on and finally stopped and Murphy was staring at me slightly confused.

"I should go" I immediately stood up and awkwardly walked away and out of the church. I was mentally kicking myself for giving into all the things that were racing through my mind and for not sticking with my pact to destroy the Saints. When I got outside I took a minute to just focus on my breathing and get my thoughts straight, but my thoughts were soon jumbled up again when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Murphy standing there and I sighed and shook my head.

"No, you need to leave, I need to leave we need to stay away from each other" I was beginning to ramble again. There was no doubt that I wanted to do things to Murphy just based on his looks, but he seemed like the guy that was reserved and not tuned into other peoples emotions.

"Melanie are ya ok?" Murphy finally asked, "Ya 're startin' to worry me" Murphy looked into my eyes and I could see the light back in his eyes similar to the light I had spotted at the bar. How could we be making connections when our closest friends were practically at each others throats? How could I be falling for this guy that I just met, that was a killer, but that was a complete mystery that I so badly wanted to solve.

"Yea, I'm just fine, peachy keen" I plastered a smile on my face and tried my best to make it stay there, but on the inside I was freaking out.

"Ok" Murphy said and I could hear the doubt in his voice as he ran a hand through his hair obviously nervous about the whole situation. Murphy may be a hard ass around his brother, but when he was alone he seemed to soften and become a kind and caring person.

"Well, I really should be going" I looked down at my feet and then looked toward the bus stop that I would need to stand at. Murphy nodded and we parted ways as I went to stand by the bus stop, I glanced back to the front of the church and Murphy was sitting on the second to last step smoking a cigarette. Suddenly I felt empowered by the spirit of my cousin as I stomped over to Murphy grabbed the cigarette out of his mouth after he stood up and crashed my lips against his. After the utter shock of the kiss had faded I could feel Murphy kissing back and just as quickly as my confidence and adrenaline had boosted it was gone and I pulled back and covered my mouth not believing I had done any of that. I took the cigarette that was in my hand I took a long drag off of it before handing it back to Murphy and walking away with a strong sense of pride and utter embarrassment.

Connor's POV

I had been standing in the cemetery for what seemed like a few minutes but judging by the sun's position high in the sky I had been there for about three hours. I took one last glance down at my fathers grave and started to walk away, that was until I noticed a fresh grave and read the name on the headstone 'Venice Morelli'. I took a moment and stared at the grave before crossing myself for the son, the father, and the holy spirit and walked away, just because I killed him didn't mean I didn't feel for the family that was left behind, after all I had lost my father too. I headed back towards the church and saw Murphy sitting on the front steps.

"Jesus wher' ya been?" Murphy asked taking a drag off his cigarette.

"Visitin' da" I answered and stole a drag off his cigarette before handing it back to him.

"'ad me worried brudder" Murphy nudged me and I laughed pushing him back.

"Ya should never worry 'bout me" I slung my arm around his shoulder and we headed down the sidewalk in search for something to eat.

Cassidy's POV

I finished explaining everything to my Uncle Geoff and he just sat there shaking his head.

"Why wouldn't you tell me this the first chance you got?" He asked not understanding why I had kept the events that followed the death of my father from him.

"I didn't really see it as something that needed to be shared right away, not to mention it was sort of a dramatic event for me" I explained and sat there feeling a little bit better about finally getting everything off my chest. I had told him everything except the bar incident which is what I needed to tell him, but I figured I could keep that to myself a little bit longer.

"Well I think it's good that you let it out, you can't keep emotions like that bottled up" Geoff placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly.

"Thanks for listening" I smiled and I was finally allowed to get up and leave the room. When I walked out Melanie was just walking in the front door and buzzed past me and ran up the stairs. I looked after her with a confused look on my face and immediately ran up the stairs and straight to her room. I tried the door but it was locked, so I decided to knock and I didn't hear a reply.

"Melanie, are you in there?" I asked leaning into the door trying to listen for any movement or sounds. As I was leaning into the door it suddenly opened and I stumbled into Melanie's room.

"Oh Cass, I didn't hear you knock" She smiled and walked past me.

"Why did you have your door locked?" I asked looking at her suspiciously, there was something seriously up with her and it was now my mission to find out what.

"Just wanted some privacy, was changing my clothes, didn't want someone walking in on me" She replied and hurried down the stairs clearly trying to get away from me.

"Melanie, you're related to me you cant get away with lies, now spill" I crossed my arms as I cornered her in the kitchen and she heaved a sigh of defeat and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Fine, but you have to understand I had no control over it" Melanie began and I sat down across the table from her.

**A/N: I am really enjoying writing this story, so much that I decided to write two chapters tonight! Hope you enjoy! Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** for your review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	8. Chapter 8

Melanie's POV

I was sitting at the table in the kitchen as I began to tell Cassidy about what had happened today, but I had decided to leave out a very big part.

"Well I was confessing and when I walked out I saw Murphy sitting in the back row of the church so I immediately walked over to him and asked him what he was doing there, and he of course didn't answer my question right away, but to make my story short I ended up sitting there talking to him for a while and I can't help but feel that I was fraternizing with the enemy" I finally looked up from my folded hands on the table and met Cassidy's gaze.

"Mel, you are a nice person you can't help it if you try and see the good in people, I don't blame you for what you did but you really need to be more careful next time, I don't want you going anywhere alone anymore" She paused and took a deep breath, "The thought of you being alone with Murphy makes me a little uneasy so if you want to go anywhere you ask me or Geoff to go with you, you understand?" Cassidy looked at me and I could see the worry in her eyes as she thought about me being completely alone with one of the Saints.

"Yea" I smiled weakly trying not to let the other part of my story that I didn't share get the better of me.

"Do you feel better?" Cassidy asked searching my face.

"Yes, thank you, I really needed to get that off my chest" I nodded my head as I spoke and tried not to break down and tell Cassidy everything. I was so proud of myself for doing what I had done, I had actually taken charge and the fact that I had compared it to Cassidy on a normal day would have made her laugh, but I wasn't about to tell her I had kissed a Saint.

Murphy's POV

After we grabbed some lunch Connor and I headed back to the apartment to relax and regroup, I was actually dreading being alone with my brother because sometimes he had a sixth sense and could read me like an open book. I sat down on my bed and proceeded to take off my shoes and set them towards the head of my bed.

"Why did ya go see da?" I asked when we were both laying on our beds enjoying the peace and quiet.

"Needed to clear my 'ead, been a lot on my mind lately" Connor confessed and I sat up and looked over at him.

"Like what?" I pressed trying to see if Connor would actually open up about something. We were brothers but neither of us were too much on telling the other what we were feeling let a lone what was on our mind.

"Strategy and regrets" Connor said and I could tell he wasn't going to expand on the topic.

"What 'ere ya doin' at da church?" Connor asked and I froze trying to remember why I had gone there in the first place but all I could think of was the things that transpired after I had gotten there.

"Oh, jus' lookin' for ya, figured ya might go dere" I explained trying to keep my voice calm and unsuspicious but when Connor threw his legs over onto the floor I knew I was busted.

"What 'appened?" He asked and I sat up and assumed a similar position to his as I looked at him.

"What ya mean?" I asked trying to play dumb but I knew my brother wasn't buying any of this.

"Murph, ya can't lie to me" Connor was staring me down and I could feel the pressure to tell him what happened bubbling to the surface. It wasn't that big of a deal in the first place, it was a kiss, not a peace treaty. After all it wasn't that good of a kiss either, I told myself and looked Connor in the eye and told him part of the truth.

"Ran into Melanie again" I confessed and Connor growled to himself and rolled his eyes, I could tell he was getting fed up with these girls that seemed to be there every time we made a move.

"What da 'ell did she 'ant" Connor asked rubbing his face as he shook his head.

"Nothing she was 'ere for confession 'nd I was dere lookin' for ya, we dint even talk to each udder" I lied once again but this time Connor wasn't looking at me so I got away with it.

"Confession, like dat goody goody has anyting to confess 'bout" Connor laughed to himself and I couldn't help but feel a little mad at his comment, what the hell is wrong with me, I screamed internally and tried to focus on my brother.

"Who knows, maybe she does" I shrugged and this got Connors attention that I didn't want on me at the moment.

"'ave ya gone soft budder?" Connor glared at me.

"No" I sad angrily and stared him down until he backed off and layed back on his bed.

"If I dint know any better I'd say ya had a ting for this girl" Connor laughed to himself and I forced myself to laugh along with him because in actuality it was an obscured idea and was not true, at all, at least that's what I was going to tell myself until it was true.

Cassidy's POV

After our little chat Melanie had gone back up to her room to busy herself as I continued to go through some things that pertained to the mob business. Looking at the table in front of me sprawled out with papers I heaved a sigh and dropped my head down onto the table trying to clear my head. I was sitting in the mob room taking advantage of the big table that was in the room, but as I sat there with my head resting on the table I was reminded of my dead and immediately looked towards the door. No Connor thank god, I sighed and continued on with my work. It was seriously beginning to piss me off that after everything that had gone down Connor was still infiltrating my mind on a daily basis and occasionally on a nightly one. I shook my head and stood up out of my chair quickly and started to pace. Why was all of this happening, why was I the one who had to figure everything out, why did Connor and Murphy have to exist, why did we have to go to that damn club that night, why did I have to walk into that office, why did Connor let me go? And that was the question that bothered me the most, why, if he was so adamant about killing my father and anyone involved with the mob, did he not kill me when he had the chance. I halted my pacing and decided I needed to get out of the house and away from all the things that were currently troubling me, so I walked out of the room grabbed the keys to my challenger and sped off into town to find a bar.

Melanie's POV

I was laying on my bed when I heard an engine rev and tires squeal as they ate pavement, I immediately jumped out of bed and ran to my window to see what was going on. When I saw that it was Cassidy that was leaving I shook my head not understanding why I had to be under the buddy system but she was free to go anywhere by herself. I sat back down on my bed and decided that I wasn't going to play by her rules if I wanted to go out then I was going to go out and have some fun. I grabbed a jacket, checked myself in the mirror, blew a kiss at myself and out he door I went.

"Hey Geoff, will you take me to the club?" I asked as soon as I found him reading in the den.

"Sure, just give me a second" Geoff went back to his reading and after a few minutes he gently closed his book and I followed him to the garage. We arrived at the club about an hour before it was going to open and I was excited that I got to go in before everyone else because I was family. I walked straight over to the bar when we got in and sat down.

"Hey Mel, what'll it be?" Jimmy asked.

"Water" I replied and looked around the room they had changed some things since Cassidy had taken over and I liked it because everything that had changed reminded me of her.

"Water, you feeling alright?" Jimmy asked handing me a glass of water.

"Yea, just fine" I lied, I was worried sick about Cassidy and I was still spiraling from what happened with Murphy earlier, "Gonna go out for a smoke" I smiled before getting up and heading to the back door to the alley. As soon as I was outside I took out one of my cigarettes and a lighter and lit the end with a slight inhale.

"I knew I'd find you here" I froze not moving as I heard a familiar voice.

Connor's POV

"Murph, you'll be fine on your own won't ya?" I asked walking towards the door.

"Where da 'ell you goin'?" Murphy asked looking at me confused. I turned to face my brother trying to drum up a good lie in my head.

"Jus' need some fresh air, maybe a walk" I said and left the room before Murphy could protest or ask any more questions. I had a pan and I was determined to keep it a secret for as long as I could.

Cassidy's POV

I parked my car down the road from one of the bars in the Italian part of the neighborhood and made my way to the entrance. Although I wasn't here for a drink or some fun I was determined to relax and be in my element instead of trapped in my house. I ordered a soda and sat down at one of the tables in the back so I could keep an eye on all of the patrons. I was still trying to sort out all of the questions that continued to float into my head when I noticed a familiar face.

"Alex?" I asked walking over to a table where a young man about my age was sitting.

"Cassidy Morelli" Alex looked up at me and I smiled, Alex was an old friend and an ex-boyfriend of mine and while we had promised that we would stay friends we hadn't exactly stuck to that promise.

"How have you been?" I asked pulling out the chair and sitting down at the table.

"Good how about yourself?" He pause, "I heard about your dad and uncle" And there is was the condescending tone that I hated whenever something bad happened.

"Yea, I'm fine, just trying to get my head on straight" I smiled.

"Yea, I can understand that" And I couldn't help but smile wider because poor Alex didn't even know the half of it.

"So how's you mom?" I asked making casual conversation and trying to keep my mind off of everything.

"She's good, feeling a lot better lately" He smiled and I felt myself slipping back to the days when we used to go out and I couldn't really remember why we had broken up in the first place.

"Well that's good, I know for a while there she was really having difficulty dealing with your dad's death" Alex's father had been working with my dad and things just didn't go the way they had planned one night and Alex's dad was the one who suffered.

"Yea, well I need another drink, what are you drinking?" He asked about to walk up to the bar.

"Soda" I replied and smiled kind of ashamed.

"Cassidy Morelli is drinking soda in a bar, I've gotta change that" He smirked and walked up the bar. I shook my head and laughed to myself as my plan to not drink had been blown out of the water, but it was Monday, Mondays are always bad enough to have a drink at the end of the day. Alex came back to the table with two beers and sat one down in front of me and I instinctively took a drink.

About an hour passed as we had two or three more beers on top of the countless beers that Alex had, had before I got here, we were sitting there chatting and having a good time when Alex scooted his chair closer to mine. I was still laughing at a joke he said and took a drink of my beer when I felt a hand slide across my upper thigh, I immediately halted my drinking and looked over at Alex who was looking at me clearly in a daze faze. I reached down and grabbed Alex's hand and took it off my thigh and went back to drinking my beer but before I could get more than one drink Alex's hand was back in its original place and he began to stroke my leg.

"Alex, listen it's been fun but I think I need to go" I stood up and Alex stumbled and frantically stood up as well. I tried to ignore the wild look in his eyes and headed for the door, but Alex grabbed my hand and pulled be back to him. With my back to the door to the bar Alex grabbed hold of me and leaned in for a kiss as I tried to get away from him.

"Alex, stop" I tried to push him away but he had obviously gotten stronger since the last time I had seen him because I was no match for him even drunk. He managed to get close enough to me to kiss me but just as suddenly as the kiss had been initiated I was let go.

"Get ya damn 'ands off 'er" I opened my eyes and saw Alex on the floor holding his face. What the hell had just happened!

**A/N: Wow intense all around, Who found Melanie, What is Connor up to, And who punched Alex in the face. Wait for more! Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** for your review! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	9. Chapter 9

Cassidy's POV

After I pried my eyes off of Alex I looked up to see who the assailant was and my mouth dropped open as I was staring at Connor.

"What the fuck are you doing here, and why the hell did you punch him?" I asked yelling at Connor completely and utterly shocked that he was standing in front of me.

"Who the hell is this Cassidy, your new boyfriend?" Alex asked standing up and rubbing his jaw and eye.

"Do you want to be punched again?" I threatened and Alex got the hint and left without another word, "Go" I said to Connor before he could say anything.

"That's how ya gonna repay me?" Connor pretended to be hurt and I just glared at him.

"If you won't go then I will" I growled and grabbed my things and headed for the door.

"Sadie" Connor called after me and I whipped around and stormed up to him. My mother had always called me Sadie and no one had called me that since the day I died, and the fact that the man that killed my father and one of my uncles was using it infuriated me.

"Don't you dare call me that, no one calls me that, now explain what the hell you are doing here or I am walking out that door and calling everyone to let them know just who the Saints are" I threatened and Connor put up his hands as a form of surrender and sat down at the table Alex and I had been sitting at earlier. I sat down reluctantly and Connor began to speak.

Melanie's POV

"I knew I'd find ya 'ere" The voice spoke.

I slowly turned around praying that it wasn't who I thought it was, but when I saw Murphy standing there I wanted to run into the building and never emerge again.

"What are you doing here?" I asked finally finding the courage to speak.

"I felt that I needed to ask ya somethin'" Murphy started and he looked just as bad as I felt at the moment.

"Ask me what?" I felt like it was going to be something terrible but there was a tiny part of me that knew that it had to be something good about to come out of Murphy's mouth.

"Why'd ya kiss me?" Murphy asked and I wanted to just crawl into a little ball on the ground and pretend I wasn't there anymore.

"Spur of the moment thing, nothing to dwell on" I took a drag off of my cigarette to try and calm my nerves, but sadly there wasn't enough nicotine in the world to calm me down.

"I see, well guess I'll be goin' then" Murphy shrugged his shoulders and turned on his heels to walk away.

"Wait!" I called after him and he stopped but didn't turn around, "What if it did mean something?" I asked closing my eyes not wanting to know the answer. When I opened my eyes Murphy was standing right in front of me and he reached up and took the cigarette out of my mouth like I had earlier to him and he took a drag.

"Well" he began but didn't bother finishing his sentence as he pressed his lips against mine gently and I could feel a tingling sensation starting in my toes and traveling up into my stomach where it exploded and continued up to my head. When Murphy pulled away and took another drag from my cigarette I looked at him and waited for him to take it away from his lips before I crashed mine against his once again not being gentle at all. We were locked in an embrace for an infinite amount of time it seem, each of us taking turns leading the way, but from what I could tell Murphy liked it when he was in control so I gave in and let him take the lead. We were enjoying the intimacy of out encounter when suddenly we were interrupted.

"Hey Mel your song is" Jimmy started but trailed off when he saw that I was busy, but sadly the moment was already ruined.

"I'll be in, in a minute Jimmy" I said breathing heavily as Murphy was still only less than an inch from my face. I stole one last kiss before I stomped on the cigarette we had dropped in the tango of our embrace and headed for the door. Murphy continued to stand there like a fool when I finally turned at looked at him.

"Are you coming?" I asked and he regained his ability to move and followed me into the club. If Cassidy could only see me now, she would certainly kill me.

Cassidy's POV

"So you think I'm sending Melanie out to spy on you?" I paused looking at Connor like he had lost his mind, "Are you even listening to yourself, Melanie ha!" I laughed to myself at the thought of Melanie trying to act like a spy.

"Ya 're certainly a wolf in sheeps clothing, why couldn't she be" Connor said and I couldn't help but smile a little bit at the subtly compliment Connor had just paid me.

"Well I'm reassuring you that she is not spying on you at all, now can I leave?" I asked and watched Connors face light up as he smiled.

"I'm not holdin' ya 'ere 'oney, you sat at your own will" Connor continued to smirk and I kicked his shin, "Ow" He hollered and reached down to rub his leg. I had to take a drink to stop myself from laughing at the little joke we had started. I hated the fact that I found myself slipping into a comfort zone with Connor when I so badly wanted to hate him.

"Now, let me ask you a question" I started and he stopped rubbing his leg and leaned in to listen. I suddenly felt very uncomfortable by the lack of space between us and leaned back in my chair. I saw Connor slightly jerk his head back like he was offended or trying to figure out why I had moved away.

"Ask away Sadie" Connor stressed the last word and I tried not to snap on him as I took a deep breath.

"First off, do not call me Sadie" I paused, "Secondly, why the hell are you here and why did you punch the shit out of Alex" I asked still confused as to why he was here in the first place and why he cared if I was being molested, after all he wanted to kill me, he probably would have done the same to me before he did it anyway. I bit my tongue as my mind wandered back to the first night and played out a very unlikely scene.

"I was lookin' for ya, checked bars, and found ya, as for the asshole that was gropin' ya, no lady, even one I'm not too fonda doesn't deserve to be treated like at" Connor said and I could tell he was sincerely angry about Alex touching me.

"Thank you" I looked down not watching to make eye contact with Connor, for the first time I was embarrassed about the way I looked an acted, all because Alex had made me feel like I was completely naked.

"No problem, but let's not mak' dis a 'abit" Connor chuckled to himself and I finally looked up and met his eyes. His eyes stared back into mine and for a second I felt safe with him sitting there across from me, that was until he shifted and I caught a glimpse of his gun sticking out of one of his holsters.

"So, were you planning on killing me before or after you ruined my night?" I asked immediately putting my defensive walls back up.

"'Oney you wish" Connor smirked standing up.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" I demanded standing up as well.

"Ya tink I ruined your night, lass ya did dat on your own" Connor turned at walked toward the door. I stood there for a second longer and ran after him and shoved him when I caught up to him.

"You don't get to do that, you don't get to be a killer one second, a gentleman the next, and then be a complete asshole the next, make up your mind on who you are going to be because I cant handle trying to figure you out!" I yelled at Connor after turned around.

"Last I checked, ya wanted me dead, so I can be jus' as cruel and mean ta ya as I want" Connor took a step towards me and got up in my face. I stood my ground and didn't budge, "Though I could say da sameting 'bout ya" At this I took a step back and looked at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked and waited for his reply.

"Ya all over da place, scared I'm gonna kill ya, pissed 'cause I let ya go, mad 'cause I took yar gun, sad 'cause I killed your da, mad 'cause I'm still alive and called ya Sadie, den you say tank you for savin' your ass and then you're pissed at me again" He paused, "I tink ya need some medicine" He laughed to himself and shook my head trying to deny everything he said even though I knew it was how I was acting, "She's finally speechless tank da lord" Connor threw his hands up and pretended to be praying to god.

"Whatever" I growled and started walking to my car.

"Dis won't be the last time we meet wit guns" Connor said taping his thigh as a way to let me know he knew I was packing.

"It'll be the last time we both leave with guns" I flipped him off as I continued to walk down the street to my car.

Connor's POV

She held up her middle finger high in the sir as she continued to walk down the sidewalk and I couldn't help but laugh, she was like me in so many way and I think that's why we hated each other so much, no one ever won or got the last word for sure. I scuffed my boot on the sidewalk and glanced up at her once again as she climbed into her car, I waited until she drove away before I headed home. I may be a killed but my ma still raised me to be a gentleman. When I got back to the apartment I was confused to see that Murphy was no longer there, I figured he had gone down to the bar or something for a few drinks so I didn't think anything of I and went t sleep on my bed.

Murphy's POV

Melanie and I were sitting at one of the booths in the club drinking and talking about anything and everything, after she had a few drinks in her she rambled on about her childhood and growing up with Cassidy and all the trouble they used to get in. I found myself actually interested in her past and how she came to be who she was but I was also intrigued to learn things about Cassidy, it made the mystery that was her less mysterious.

"I'm going to go get us some more drinks" I yelled over the music and Melanie nodded her head. I headed to the bar and ordered a beer and another martini and then went back to the table, when I arrived I saw Melanie talking to another guy and he was a little too close for my comfort, so I did what I did best and I slid in the booth real close to Melanie and grabbed the back of her head and crashed my lips into hers. She was caught off guard but once she knew what was going on she didn't care because her hands expertly gravitated to my neck as mine dropped to her waist. When I pulled away I kept my hands on her waist and checked to see if the guy has stuck around I smirked in victory as he was nowhere to be seen.

"What was that for?" She asked in my ear.

"Protecting my things" I replied and Melanie's face got extremely red as she looked away embarrassed. I leaned back and relaxed as Melanie rested her head on my shoulder, by no means was I a soft guy, but it was nice to have someone there that enjoyed my company and wasn't always thinking I was gay or something like Connor did.

"I should probably get going" Melanie looked up at me and I nodded my head thinking that Connor would certainly have to be back at the apartment by now. Melanie and I walked outside and she took out her cellphone.

"Geoff went home a while ago, but still need a ride" She explained as she put the phone up to her ear.

"Cass, can you come get me at the club" Pause "No I didn't go alone, Geoff took me" Pause" No I'm not alone I have a friend with me" She smiled at me, but her smile turned into a frown as she heard a honk and looked up to she Cassidy driving up.

"Go!" She shouted at me and I ducked back into the club before Cassidy could see us, I was beginning to think that being with Melanie was going to be fun, but playing a game of shadows with my brother and her cousin made the affair all that more intriguing.

**A/N: Wow that was a fun chapter to write, hope you enjoy! Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** for your review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	10. Chapter 10

Cassidy's POV

"You are such a little liar" I said to Melanie after she got in my car, "No one was waiting for with you, you know I was serious when I said that you needed to go out with people" I glanced over at her and she lowered her head.

"Well if you hadn't of gone off on your own than I wouldn't have felt the need to go to the club alone, but in my defense Geoff did drive me to the club" Melanie looked up and found some confidence to confront me.

"Well I appreciate you listening to that but I don't like the idea of you being at the club alone" I said and Melanie just shook her head.

"I wasn't alone I told you" Melanie countered.

"Then who were you with?" Cassidy asked as we edged closer to the house.

"Jimmy, who else" Melanie spoke rapidly and when I put the car in park I looked at her suspiciously.

"So you sat at the bar all night?" I asked not believing anything she was saying.

"Cassidy, enough with the third degree" Melanie complained and got out of the car and walked into the house. I was certain that she was purposely with holding something from me.

"Melanie O'Donnell what happened at the club" I raced after her as she started up the stairs.

"Where did you go Cassidy who were you with because I find it completely unfair that I'm the one that has to be on a leash" Melanie turned around and verbally lashed out at me.

"I went to the bar and hung out with Alex" I said and looked away not wanting to think about how the events in the bar had led to Connor saving the day.

"Alex, your ex, the one that you broke up with because every time he gets drunk he tries to make a move on any girl in the room" Melanie looked at me and finally the light bulb lit up above my head, that was why I broke up with him, "Cass" Melanie snapped her fingers in front of my face and I focused back on her quickly.

"What?" I asked angry at the fact that once again I was getting distracted by everything that had happened throughout the night.

"Are you ok?" She asked and I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't like the sign of that" Melanie looked at me concerned.

"It's nothing" I smiled and Melanie crossed her arms not believing me.

"Cass" She pushed.

"Alex did what he always did and it was uncomfortable" I confessed, "Any then a guy in the bar punched him before I had a chance to" I laughed and Melanie couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Alex always was an asshole" Melanie laughed, "But who took him out?" Melanie asked and I bit my lip not wanting to admit to her that it was Connor.

"Just some guy, I don't know who he was" I shrugged and she eyed me before letting the topic drop, "Well I think I'm gonna head to bed, goodnight Mel" I smiled and walked past her and into my room. I said I was going to bed but there was no way I was going to sleep after the dream I had last night and the very real encounter with Connor that happened at the bar.

Murphy's POV

I made it back to the apartment and saw that Connor was already asleep, so I made my way over to my bed and tried my best to be quiet.

"Where'd ya go?" Connor asked and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Out" I said and sat down on my bed and started taking my boots off, but Connor wasn't satisfied by my answer and he turn in his bed and stared at me.

"Murph" He warned and I groaned.

"Connor ya ain't my keeper I can go where I wanna" I stated and layed back on my bed.

"Ok, geez Murph, apparently I 'it a nerve" Connor laughed to himself and turned back over, within a few minutes I was fast asleep and the events between Melanie were happily in the back of my head.

The Next Day

I awoke the next day to Connor turning on the shower, I grumbled and turned on my stomach and crashed my pillow onto the back of my head.

"Murph get up" Connor called and I startled awake and practically jumped out of bed. Connor was standing a few feet away from me and looked at me confused, "The 'ell were ya dreamin'?" Connor asked as he continued to eye me suspiciously.

"I'm not sure" I ran a hand through my hair and rubbed my face trying to wake myself up.

"Well 'nough of ya dreams, we got some business to attend to" Connor said and started to walk towards the door. I hurried to get dressed and walked down the stairs to meet with Connor.

"So what's the plan?" I asked Connor as he lit a cigarette and took a drag of it.

"'Nother hit" Connor stated in between drags. I with held my groans as I knew it would have something to do with the Morelli family again and I wasn't too sure on how Melanie would react to another family member being killed. Connor reached his hand up to grab his cigarette and I saw that his knuckles were bruised.

"What 'appened 'ere?" I asked poking at his hand. Connor quickly dropped that hand and used his opposite hand to take the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Nothin', jus' a bar fight" Connor shrugged and I could tell he was hiding something, lately that was all we both seemed to be doing was hiding things from each other.

"At McGinty's what da 'ell" I looked at him shocked, out of all the places to get in a fight McGinty's was the one place that was always a fight free zone.

"No, at some bar down in the Italian district" Connor nonchalantly said and began to walk away.

"The Italian district" I paused and automatically thought the worst, "Connor, ya didn't 'it Cassidy" I looked at him shocked. Connor turned around and glared at me.

"Of course not" Connor shook his head, "But Cassidy was there, end of discussion" Connor turned his back to me and continued on his way. My brother was beginning to act really weird when it came to our current mission. I rushed to catch up with Connor and asked who the next hit was.

"Henry Morelli, another brother of the boss" I nodded my head and continued to walk with Connor as we headed to our final destination.

That Night

Melanie's POV

"Cassidy, are you awake?" I asked sneaking into Cassidy's room and looking around, but when I saw that Cassidy wasn't even in her room I walked back down stairs and headed for the hot tub on the back porch. Not a lot had happened throughout the day but after the weekend I had I figured soaking in the hot tub would relax the muscles that were still tense. I got in and got confortable before I put my headphones in my ears and closed my eyes. I listened to a few songs and started to get really into the music and started dancing a little bit by moving my hands in the water and bobbing my head. I was completely relaxed when my headphones were ripped out of my ears and a hand was placed over my mouth. My eyes shot open and I was pleasantly surprised to see Murphy smiling at me with his finger held up to his lips to keep me quiet.

"What are you doing here?" I asked looking around to make sure no one saw him.

"Though I'd come see ya" Murphy leaned against the side of the hot tub and I couldn't help but smile at his suaveness. As I looked at murphy my happy mood was soon turned to sadness.

"You killed Henry today" I looked down at my hands.

"Mel, listen it's what we do" Murphy turned and looked at me placing a hand under my chin and making me look at him.

"But he was family, how can you continue to do this?" I asked searching his eyes for any hint that he cared about me enough to stop.

"I understand, but he was also one of the potential heads of the mob an' Connor an' I can't allow for 'nother person ta 'ave that kinda power" Murphy explained and I realized that Connor and Murphy were taking out the Morelli's because they didn't know that Cassidy was in charge. I tried to hide my shock and composed myself, I didn't want to think of what they would do to Cassidy if they found out she was really in charge.

"I know" I bowed my head again and shook my head from side to side, why did Murphy have to be involved in such an odd profession.

"Listen Mel, ya and Cassidy are safe, as much as my brudder would like to get 'is 'ands on Cassidy I won' let 'em" Murphy made me look at him once again and I could tell he was being sincere, but I was still fearful if his thoughts would change if he knew Cassidy was in charge.

"If you say so" I whispered to myself and began to get out of the hot tub Murphy was there with a towel and picked me up and placed me on the ground.

"Ya don' trust me do ya?" Murphy asked and I dropped my eyes from his gaze.

"I do, but I don't know for how long" I looked up at him and I could see he was a little hurt by my comment, "Murphy it's just hard, I want to trust you, but it'll take some time before I can trust you completely" I tried a smile and Murphy just stood there not sure what to do.

"I think I should be going" Murphy turned to start walking away but I called after him and he turned around to look at me. I dropped my towel and walked over to him in my bikini and wrapped my arms around his neck before laying a soft kiss against his lips.

"Who said you had to leave, I trust you enough to have a little fun" I smirked wildly and Murphy smiled as he wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned in for another kiss.

Cassidy's POV

I was standing in the middle of my Uncle Henry's house trying to figure out my next move and how exactly I was going to keep the rest of y family safe. When I spotted a familiar blonde head emerging from the darkness I groaned.

"Shouldn't you be in your secret lair trying to plot more schemes?" I asked as Connor continued to walk in my direction.

"I came 'ere 'cause we have some business to discuss" Connor stated and fully came into view, once again Connor was haunting my every move, if I could go one day without seeing him I would rejoice.

"What is it this time, you think my cat is spying on you now" I mocked the fact that Connor had asked me if Melanie was spying on them.

"This is serious" He looked at me and I could tell that he wasn't in a teasing mood and it eerily reminded me of the cold stare that he had focused on me in my nightmare. A chill ran down my spine and I shivered as I stood there.

"I'm listening" I said trying to make it seem like I wasn't slightly scared being alone with him in his state.

"I think there is somethin' goin' on between Melanie and Murph" Connor said and I couldn't help but laugh out loud once again to something he was proposing.

"Come on, you seriously can't hear how ridiculous that sounds" I continued to laugh but Connor walked over and grabbed onto my arm violently.

"Quit, tinking this is all a game, I'm not playin' 'round and ya cousin needs to stay away from my brudder" Connor leaned into my face as he spoke. I ripped my arm away from him and narrowed my eyes as Connor continued to be only centimeters away from my face.

"This is all a game of cat and mouse, and I am determined to win" I glared at him as he narrowed his eyes in response, I caught my attention drifting down to Connor's lips and I snapped my eyes back up to meet Connor's.

"If ya tink ya can win, ya sadly mistaken" Connor took a small step forward and used his body weight against me trying to intimidate me so I would back down.

"Will you get the hell away from me" I shoved him but wasn't really trying to make him move, there was a part of my brain that liked the close proximity and heat that was being exchanged.

"Mak' me" Connor encouraged and I heard a slight smirk in his voice and when I focused on his lips the corner of his mouth was slightly turned up.

"Wouldn't you like that" I smirked as Connor's eyebrow arched up as he continued to glare at me, "Get out" I said not moving from my position.

"No" Connor retorted. I stood there looking into Connor's eyes and couldn't help but want to punch him for everything that he had done, including killing another of my uncles just that morning.

"You are so infuriating!" I yelled with a growl and turned to walk away, but Connor grabbed onto my arm and yanked me back. The force of his yank made me spiral into him and when I finally stopped the worst thing had happened, my lips were pressed against his and I immediately stepped back and practically ran out of the house.

**A/N: I realize this chapter really sucks, but hopefully the next chapter will be better. Hope you enjoy! Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** for your review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	11. Chapter 11

Cassidy's POV

I ran out to my car and sped off back to the house trying to block out what had just gone down. Why did he have to come there, why did he have to always be there every time I turned around, why was he always in my mind playing his little tricks. I pulled into the driveway and shit the car off and just sat there for a while trying to catch my breath. Finally I shook off the weirdness that had over taken me and headed inside the house.

"Oh, hey Cassidy" Melanie stopped and looked at me like she had been caught doing something that she should have been doing.

"So it is true" I sighed to myself and headed up the stairs, I didn't have the fight left in me to give Melanie a stern talking to so I headed for my room and my comfortable bed. I was laying in silence for a good ten minutes when I heard a soft rap on my door.

"Come in" I called and sat up in bed to see Melanie walking in.

"Everything ok, you looked a little green when you came in, get some bad booze?" She asked and I felt a little hurt that she thought I had gone out drinking again. I realize that I drink quite often but it's not my whole life.

"Not any alcohol, though I wish it was so I could just throw it up and be done with it" I laughed to myself at the thought, if I wanted to get rid of what happened I'd have to cut off my lips, and that wasn't about to happen.

"Cass, you know you can talk to me" Melanie sat down on the edge of my bed and I stopped myself from calling her out on the whole Murphy thing, I figured I would try and get some actual proof before confronting her.

"I was at Henry's house, just to say my last goodbyes and try to think of a way to lessen the amount of death that seems to be fallowing me around, but I couldn't think of anything" I paused, "I was alone for a while, but then Connor showed up" I looked up at her and her face lost all color.

"What did he do to you?" She asked her teeth clenched, clearly she was more mad about all of this than I was.

"Nothing, we talked, he had some things to confront me on and I answered him straight up" I shrugged and Melanie busted out laughing. I looked at her with a questioning look.

"Cassidy you never answer anything straight forward especially with people you don't like, so what you mean is you insulted him and mocked him and then blew off his questions" She smiled.

"Exactly, but he and I got really pissed off at each other and the tension in the room was almost suffocating, so I told him he was infuriating and turned to walk away, making the whole situation completely harmless" I stopped and I could tell Melanie was on the edge of her seat and if I wasn't mistaken I saw a glint in her eye that reminded me of when she watched romantic comedies, but I shrugged it off an continued with my story.

"Connor didn't want me to leave because he probably had other things to say to me or something so he grabbed my arm and yanked me back, but the momentum of his yank made me spiral back into him and I lost my balance and was finally stopped by his body and his face crashing into mine" I swallowed hard trying not to freak out as I relived the catastrophic moment.

"Crashed into yours, what does that mean" Melanie asked but I could tell after she looked at my face that, that was all the answer she needed, "No, you're bullshittin' me" Melanie looked at me with wide eyes as I tried to bury myself in the covers and never emerge. I threw the comforter over my head and Melanie threw it off and pushed my onto my back.

"Cassidy look me in the eyes, did you kiss Connor MacManus?" She asked and I clenched my jaw, because technically I hadn't, we hadn't done anything, it was an accident.

"No" I glared at her.

"You're answer is no, yet you are sulking up here in your room, it counts as a kiss if you are this effected" Melanie did her little dance as a victory that we had kissed. I groaned and rolled my eyes trying to make her go away, some times Melanie could be such a romantic.

"Listen, it was an accident and I'm effected because I'm disgusted, the thought of it just makes me want to vomit, so if that constitutes the action as a kiss than so be it" I grumbled and tried to roll back over but Melanie wouldn't let me.

"You have to tell me more" She demanded.

"There's nothing more to say" I explained, but she wasn't giving up.

"There's something you aren't telling me" Melanie stood up and tapped a finger on her lip several times as she was thinking.

"Melanie, leave me alone" I groaned and tried to kick at her but she avoided my feet and continued to think.

"Alex!" She yelled, "Connor took out Alex, that's why you were so weird yesterday night, and now tonight you two kiss" Melanie squealed to herself. I covered my ears at the sound of her high pitched shriek that I'm pretty sure woke the dead and glared at her.

"Maybe, but it doesn't matter, we are sworn enemies and that's that, we both are strong headed and won't back down until one of us is dead and gone, so don't get all mushy thinking we are going to ride off into the sunset together" I watched her face go from extremely happy to a sullen frown.

"But" Melanie began but I cut her off.

"Mel, Connor MacManus is a killer, although he may have good qualities about him" I paused, like his looks, his charisma, his accent, his humor, his personality, his gentlemanly qualities, and the like, "He is a killer at heart and so far he has killed three members of our family" I pointed from me to her, reminding her that she was just as much a part of this family as anyone else, "So the idea of us ever being civilized around each other, let alone liking each other is zero to none" I finished and she looked shocked at the things I had said.

"And, if there was any information that you were holding back from me that could give me some insight into what exactly Connor and Murphy have planned, then I might have to re-think that family comment" I finished with a hard stare in her direction and I could see the color rush back into her face as guilt rushed over her. I was determined to make her tell me about Murphy if it was true I was never going to openly confront her unless I needed to.

Connor's POV

I watched Cassidy practically trip over herself as he rushed out of her uncle's house; I couldn't help but laugh at the embarrassment that was caused by my little accident. I took one look around the room and shrugged my shoulders before walking out of the house and down the sidewalk. Cassidy was a strong-headed woman, and just like me she was never afraid to stand up to anyone and she would never back down if given the chance. I liked that about her, she gave me a run for my money most of the time and tonight she had proven that she was just as tough as me, and had a similar weakness. Emotions, they can get the best of anyone, even the toughest of men and women and even if the emotions don't get you intimacy can, most people are ok with intimacy, but so the strong willed and go getter, it's the one thing that makes us crack. The whole thing between Cassidy and I was intriguing, every time I pushed further, she pushed back just as hard and I admired that, but the fact that she was on the side of the sinners made all of that worthless information. In the real world, if I hadn't of known she was a mob daughter I would have taken to liking her, but the fact that she was the enemy, made her all that more unappealing. I stuffed my hands in my pockets of my jacket and continued to walk down the street, I found myself replaying the event in the house over and over in my head. I'd be lying to myself if I admit that I thought Cassidy was attractive, because she no doubt was, and the fact that she wasn't afraid to get all up in my face and battle it out was kind of a turn on, but again no one should fraternize with the enemy.

I made it back to the apartment and Murphy was taking a shower.

"Ain't it a lil' late to be washin' up?" I asked knowing that he had done something he didn't want me to know about and in order to make his lies better he needed to wash the stink of the act off his skin.

"Was restless waitin' 'round on ya so I decided to shower" Murphy replied as he ran the soap over his arms and across his chest.

"Mmhmm" I said and watched my brother closely, "'re ya sure der ain't nothin' else ya got on ya mind" I leaned against the wall an started at the artwork on Murphy's back. It was then I saw slight scratch marks and walked over to my brother and slapped him on the back and whispered in his ear.

"Ya fucked 'er din ya, and now what my brudder, you gonna go riding into da sunset togeder?" I laughed out loud and made a big production of the whole thing.

"Hey wait a minute" Murphy grabbed a towel and wrapped it around hi waist as he tried to make me stop she he could explain.

"Nah, I'm not finished, ya 'ave no idea what you've done, she gonna be followin' ya 'round like a los' puppy while we take out her family on' by on', you tink she gonna stick around long after dat, jesus Murph would ya think with your mind and not yer dick for once" I continued on my rant and ran a hand through my hair angrily, "Unless, we use 'er ta get information 'bout da new boss's" A light bulb lit up above my head.

"No we ain't usin' 'er" Murphy retorted and took a step closer to me. I sucked in my gut and puffed out my chest slightly and went and stood next to my brother, but the intimidation didn't last long before Murphy pushed me away.

"Den why da 'ell keep 'er 'round" I yelled at him not understanding why he was all of a sudden attached to this hoity toity bitch.

"She's good company" Murphy nodded his head, "She ain't really affiliated wit da mob so she's safe" He continued but I just shook my head.

"it dat what she told ya, she ain't affiliated, did she tell ya on the first night at McGinty's 'er and Cassidy were gonna shoot us and dat she had a gun in 'er coat pocket, I bet she left dat part out dint she" I continued on trying to make Murphy see that everything he was feeling was wrong and that he needed to get away from this Melanie girl quickly before it was too late. I had a feeling if Cassidy was here she would whole heartedly agree with me as well, as Murphy stood there trying to think of what to say next my mind drifted back to the thought of Cassidy, but I quickly shook it off and focused on my brother.

"No, but it don't matter" Murphy finally spoke and looked up at me.

"It damn well does matter, she gonna get me or you killed, hell she may even do it 'erself" I threw my hands up in the air in defeat. This had been the last straw in Murphy's eyes because just like every other time we argued, Murphy tackled me and our scrap ensued as we starting beating the shit out of each other on the floor of out apartment.

**A/N: So here is another chapter, stayed up too late to write this but somebody made me. Hope you enjoy! Wanna be mentioned in the note R&R Please!**


	12. Chapter 12

Melanie's POV

It had been a couple days since Uncle Henry had been killed and Cassidy had told me that her and Connor kissed, even though she wouldn't put it that way. Murphy and I had been sneaking around keeping up with our secret love affair and as far as I could tell neither Cassidy or Connor suspected anything.

"Murphy?" I asked tracing my fingers across his chest as I layed on top of him in a bed at a hotel.

"Yea" He leaned up slightly to look at me.

"What's going to happen to us, are we just always going to sneak around and hope we don't get caught" I sighed. I was happy about finally connecting with someone like I had with Murphy but I was also sad because I couldn't talk to Cassidy about all the amazing things we were doing.

"Well" Murphy began but trailed off staring at the ceiling.

"You don't want anyone to know do you?" I sat up and looked at him hurt by what he wasn't saying.

"I never said dat" Murphy sat up in bed as well and looked at me with worried eyes.

"Then what were you going to say, because it didn't sound like you were going to say everything was going to be just fine between us" I turned my back to Murphy and took a deep breath. Go figure, I finally find someone, who happens to be a killer, and he isn't the prince charming I always wanted.

"Mel, don' take my words and turn them in ta somethin' they aren't" Murphy scooted to the edge of the bed and put his arm around my shoulders. I turned and looked at him and couldn't help but let the sadness wash over my face.

"Murph, I really like you and this is so wrong what we are doing, we will eventually have to tell them, we cant hide forever" I explained and I knew Murphy couldn't argue with me, but I was also very scared about what Cassidy would say and do when she finally found out.

"Yea, but don' sneakin' 'round make it a lil' bit more excitin'" Murphy nudged me and I couldn't help but laugh, while the secrecy of our love made it more intriguing I still wanted to be able to talk about it with my cousin.

"Yea, I guess so" I shrugged.

"Now tha' don't sound very reassurin'" Murphy leaned in closer to me, "I'll jus' 'ave to fix dat" Murphy leaned in closer and trailed kisses down my neck and onto my collar bone. I turned toward Murphy and gave into his kisses as we moved back onto the bed and resumed our previous fun.

Cassidy's POV

I sat in the secret mob room and started to think about the fact that Connor and Murphy hadn't made any moves recently, I was confused and concerned about who their next victim was going to be.

"Cassidy, I'm headed out, is there anything you need?" Geoff asked stepping into the room.

"No I'm good I think I'm going to go for a drive though" I explained and walked out with my uncle. As soon as I was in my car I started the engine and took out my cell phone and pressed the call button and let the call go through my Bluetooth.

"Hello?" Melanie called over the speaker.

"Where you at?" I asked as I put the car in reverse and eased out of the driveway.

"At a restaurant with Joe" She replied, but I could tell by the lack of noise in the background that she was lying.

"Ok, well I'm headed out, so if you get home and I'm not there don't worry" I explained and we said our goodbyes before she hung up. I was headed to McGinty's to talk to Connor about the fact that Murphy and Melanie were sneaking around without letting us know. I had decided that I wouldn't say anything to him before I had gotten some hard evidence, and I had gotten my evidence the other day when I had Joe follow her. I had told him that I was worried she was running around with the wrong crowd and he had come back with footage from his squad car. The footage was my hard evidence that Murphy and Melanie was in fact meeting in secret. I arrived at McGinty's and walked in and ordered a drink.

"Sadie" I heard the familiar voice and the dreaded name he tended to call me. I turned around and glared at Connor as he walked into the bar and sat down next to me at the counter.

"I told you not to call me that" I groaned taking a drink of my water.

"Water, ya feelin' ok?" Connor laughed as he flagged down Doc and ordered a beer.

"Just fine" I retorted and rolled my eyes.

"So why'd ya wanna meet" Connor turned on his bar stool and faced the other patrons not looking at me directly.

"You were right" I looked at him but he continued to stare out into the crowd.

"Man, dat must be 'ard to say" Connor laughed and took a drink of his beer.

"Shut up" Every word that came out of Connor's mouth just made me mad, "What do we do?" I asked knowing that if one of us had an idea about how to handle Murphy and Melanie it would be Connor.

"We end it for 'em" Connor finally looked at me and I was reminded of the night when we were in my uncles house. I had greatly enjoyed the last two days where there was no reminder of Connor expect for my nightmares, but once again I was faced with my worst enemy.

"How the hell are we going to do that?" I asked not following where he was going with his plan.

"Confront 'em togeder and tell 'em to end it" Connor shrugged, making it seem like the plan was obvious.

"I don't know Connor, is that going to work?" I looked at him and he shrugged his shoulders again, "For the master of this plan you sure don't seem very sure about it" I laughed and this caught Connor's attention.

"Ya got a better one?" He asked leaning against the counter.

"No" I looked down and shook my head.

"Then I guess we 're gonna stick wit my plan" Connor laughed and set his beer down on the counter, "Come on" He stood up and waited for me to follow.

"I'm not going anywhere with you" I stayed in my seat and shook my head.

"I'm not gonna do anytin to ya" Connor reached out his hand and I looked at it and hesitated, "Cassidy" he called and looked into my eyes.

"Fine" I grumbled and took his hand and he led me out of the bar and we continued down the sidewalk.

Murphy's POV

Melanie and I were lying in bed relaxing when I glanced at the clock it was almost eleven and I knew Connor would start to wonder where I was. I got up and started putting my clothes back on and Melanie sighed.

"What's tha' for?" I asked turning around to see her laying on her stomach with her head propped up by her hands as she watched me.

"Just admiring the view" She smiled and I laughed.

"It's late, Connor an' Cassidy 're goin' to worry soon" I explained and faced her as I pulled my shirt over my head.

"Aw, but I was just beginning to have some fun" Melanie groaned and rolled back over on her back and looked at me with he head upside down.

"Nothin' says we can't 'ave fun at a later date" I chuckled and threw her clothes at her.

"Fine" She smiled and I felt the sudden urge to just take her again right there. Sometime Melanie could be a girly girl, but then she turned into this strong willed and stubborn woman and it was definitely a turn on to see both sides of her. If I had to guess where she learned to be stubborn and hard headed I would say she got it from Cassidy, it really freaked me out just how much Melanie's cousin and my brother were alike. It also scared me that they were so similar because they wouldn't stop until they got what the wanted, and what the wanted was the other one dead.

"Murph?" Melanie asked placing a hand on my shoulder and I slightly jumped.

"Sorry, deep in thought" I smiled at her and grabbed my jacket before walking out of the hotel room with her. To add to our secrecy we took the stairs and walked out the back door and parted ways with one last kiss and I couldn't help but smirk to myself as I walked back in the direction of my apartment.

Cassidy's POV

"You can let go of my hand now" I looked at Connor as he looked down at our hands and released my hand with a disgusted look on his face.

"Sorry" He said and we continued on our way.

"Where exactly are we going?" I couldn't help but ask, I didn't like the silence that fell between us as we kept walking, "Connor" I looked over at him.

"Hmmm?" He finally looked at me.

"Where are we going?" I asked again and Connor stopped walking.

"They should be here" Connor began talking to himself as he looked up at a sign that read Hotel Motel.

"How'd you know they would be here?" I asked looking around.

"I followed Murph here earlier" Connor stated and we headed inside and I had a sneaking suspicion that all of this was a ploy to get me alone so that Connor could finally get rid of me.

"I see, so how are we going to find them in here?" I asked making note of all the exits in the current room we were in, it was then that I had an idea, "I'll call her cell phone and we can listen for the ring" I reached in my pocket and took out my phone. I searched through my contacts and clicked on Melanie's name and pressed the green call button on my phone. We stayed silent and walked down the first hall of rooms trying to listen for Melanie's ringtone, but we didn't hear anything. We did this on all five levels and we didn't hear anything, and what confused me even more was the fact that Melanie never once answered her phone.

"Was this part of your plan?" I asked crossing my arms across my chest.

"Not exactly" Connor ran a hand through his hair and scratched his head confused by the fact that his plan hadn't panned out as he had thought it would.

"Go figure, should never have trusted you" I started to walk towards the elevator glad to finally put some space between Connor and I. Although I had willingly called him to tell him he was right I still wasn't too thrilled that I was with him especially after that night at my uncles house, I was still haunted by how that all had panned out. I stood in the elevator waiting for it to close, but Connor stuck his hand in before it could close and stepped in. Once again I was trapped with Connor and I was severely uncomfortable.

"You ok?" Connor asked and I looked over at him confused.

"Why do you care, if I'm ok or not" I growled, putting my walls up as to not show my real worry.

"I don' jus' thought I'd make friendly conversation" Connor shrugged.

"You shrug a lot, can you ever fully commit to something you say" I glared at him and he took a step back and grabbed at his heart.

"Do ya ever say anyting that ain't cold hearted" Connor stopped his fake routine and took a step forward and put his foot down.

"As a matter of fact I do, but to you I don't think it's possible" I smirked and Connor raised an eyebrow. The elevator dinged and stopped, I walked out and turned to look at Connor one last time, this time he raised both eyebrows expecting me to say something, but I shook my head and walked away without another word.

The Next Night

Connor's POV

Murphy and I were walking down the street to the bus stop, we had gotten some information about our next hit and it was such a beautiful night out for a killing.

"Beautiful night for some justice, eh Murph" I nudged my brother and he fake laughed, "What crawled in ya brain and changed ya mood?" I asked side glancing over at my brother, but he just shrugged. Now I could see why that was annoying to Cassidy.

"Tired, tha's all" Murphy and I stopped and waited for the bus. I searched my brother's face and I could tell that wasn't it.

"Ya were out wit Melanie again, what did I tell ya 'bout goin' wit 'er" I shook my head in disappointment as Murphy turned and looked at me anger flaring in his eyes.

"Don' start tha' shit again Connor, I'm so tired of 'earin' ya give me shit 'bout stuff, but everyting you do is golden" Murphy finally turned and faced me getting very close to my face as he yelled.

"I see I've 'it a soft spot, so tell me brudder do ya love 'er, ya gonna marry 'er, ride off inta da sunset an' kill people until ya die, I don' tink she's gonna want dat" I retorted back and Murphy shoved me.

"Shut da fuck up Connor, I'm warnin' ya" Murphy glared at me but I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yer warnin' me, I'm warnin' ya dat she ain't worth it, you getting' involved wit her is makin' ya soft an' I need ya, we 'ave a mission to do and I can't have ya changin' ya mind 'cause dese people 're related to 'er" I finished my speech and the bus pulled up before Murphy could start a fight again. I hoped everything I was telling him would finally sink in but knowing by brother he would live in his fantasy world until it was too late.

We arrived at our destination and went to the back door like we were instructed, we were told that tonight the guy would be home alone watching basketball. I motioned for Murphy to stay behind me and I busted down the door and we both stormed in, taking the guy and placing him on his knees. We started our prayer and the rest was history.

Cassidy's POV

I heard the doorbell ring and I stumbled off the couch I had fallen asleep on and went to the door. When I swung the door open I was shocked to see my brother Joe standing there, his eyes red and dressed in civilian clothes.

"Joe, what's wrong?" I asked dreading the answer he was going to tell me, if my brother was this effected who knows how I would react.

"Geoff" It was one word, but I swear the whole world came crashing down on top of me and I dropped to the floor as Joe lunged forward to catch me. I sat there on the floor with my brother holding onto me and sobbing into his chest. Why, was the only thought on my mind.

**A/N: So this is the second time I have written the last part of this chapter, the first one was completely different and involved wacko ideas that I decided needed to come in the next chapter or so. So here it is hope you enjoy! Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** for your review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	13. Chapter 13

Cassidy's POV

I sat there on the floor in the arms of my brother as I continue to cry over the loss of my beloved Uncle Geoff. Joe tried to get me to move or stand up but even when he would move I continued to sit on the floor and not move. My father's death was a burden to have to deal with but the death of the man who really cared about me shattered my whole world and I was beginning to think I would never recover. I figured t had been an hour or so since Joe and come over and he periodically came over and sat with me on the floor trying to comfort me. Melanie walked over and I didn't look up from the spot on the floor I had focused all my attention onto.

"Cassidy?" She called out and knelt down next to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. At the sudden touch I recoiled and began to cry again and Melanie sat down and held me in a similar fashion to my brother. She stroked my hair and hummed a song to herself trying to stay strong for my sake. I was always the strong one, at least that's what I always wanted everyone else to know, but the death of Geoff had broken my hardcore exterior that I had built up and there was no repairing it.

"Cass" Melanie whispered and I finally looked up at her, "Come on let's get you something to drink" I nodded slightly and she helped me up off the floor and I shuffled into the kitchen behind her. I sat down at the table and looked over at Joe as he held his face in his hands. When he heard me sigh he looked up and met my gaze and the look I saw on my brother's face broke my heart even more and I scooted my chair closer to him and leaned in for comfort. Melanie brought me a glass of orange juice since it was technically early morning and I took a sip.

"Tissue" I spoke for the first time and my voice was so hoarse one would think I hadn't spoken for a month. Melanie rushed into the bathroom in the hallway and returned with a whole box of tissues, I looked at her perplexed.

"Just in case" She tried a smile and I just shrugged my shoulders not even finding it funny. I grabbed a tissue and wiped my eyes and looked at the black smears that used to be my pristine mascara. I reached for another tissue and quietly blew my nose and got up to throw away my trash, but when I started towards the trashcan I caught sight of the coffee pot and this almost sent me into hysterics. Instead I calmly walked over to the coffee pot, yanked the plug out of the wall and steadily walked over to the trashcan and threw the whole thing away. When I turned around to walk back over to the table Melanie and Joe had been staring at me but quickly looked away.

"Cassidy, we need to discuss arrangement, with him not having a wife or children, we are in charge" Joe finally spoke and I nodded my head along at everything he was saying.

"Let me shower and we can discuss it" I said and walked out of the kitchen and straight to the liquor cabinet grabbing a fifth of whiskey and walking up the stairs.

I had showered and drank a third of the fifth and I figured I was numb enough to go through with the arrangements for my uncles funeral. I left the whiskey in my room and walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Joe had layed out Geoff's will. We hashed out everything in the will and proceeded to the funeral arrangement, he would be buried next to his brothers in the Morelli plot and we would also a wake and everything, he had left it up to us to decide what to do unlike our father. Our father had wanted to be put straight in the ground to funeral or wake straight to the grave. We finished up and I stood up and stretched, I still couldn't believe he was gone, and I couldn't believe that I had protected the Saints from the mob and now they took one of the only people I cared about in this world. I looked out the window and saw that I was still daylight, as soon as night fell I would find Connor and I would give him a piece of my mind, in the form of the gun strapped to my thigh.

Melanie's POV

I watched Cassidy with worried eyes I was so afraid that she would break at any moment. I wasn't used to being the strong one but I had to keep it together in order to help her, if she saw me or Joe break down she wouldn't be able to hold on to herself. She had always been strong but I knew that Geoff's death would not settle very well with her. When I knew I was alone I walked outside to the back patio and took out my cell phone and dialed the one person that I was the most mad at, at the moment, Murphy.

"'ello" He answered and I took a deep breath so I didn't completely snap on him.

"Murphy, what you did, it's not good" I wasn't really sure what to say to him but I needed to get across that I was hurt by this death and that Cassidy's may not recover.

"Listen Mel, now ain't a good time" He responded and I could tell he was a little preoccupied, but I didn't give a damn, he was going to listen to me.

"Ain't a good time, well when is a convenient time for you, when you're killing another one of my family members, how about when you kill Cassidy with that be a good time to chat" I was screaming into the phone at this point my rage boiling over.

"I know you're hurt, but-" I cut him off before he could make anymore excuses.

"Yes I know, it's your duty and you didn't choose this it chose you, shove it up your ass Murph, this is serious, Geoff was close to us and he was the only one that accepted me into this family and you took him away, you fucking took him away and now Cassidy is a wreck and I have to keep it together when all I wanna do is cry in your arms, but I can't do that because you're the son of a bitch that fucking killed him, and on top of that I have to keep you a secret from Cassidy because I'm pretty sure after this if she finds out she will shoot you the first chance she gets" I rambled on and on and I couldn't tell if Murphy was there or listening but I didn't care I needed to get all of the things that were racing through my mind out before I exploded.

"Mel" Murphy started.

"No, don't say anything, just watch your ass and tell Connor to sleep with one eye open because I wouldn't put it past Cassidy to take justice into her own hands after this incident" I finished and slammed my phone shut. I stood out on the patio trying to catch my breath and trying to stop the tears that were now pouring out of my eyes. How had I gotten into all of this all I wanted to do was go to the club that night and now all of this was happening, four family members were dead and my cousin was about to break and I was dating one of the killers, if my mother could just see me now.

Connor's POV

"Who was dat?" I asked Murphy after he got off the phone.

"Melanie" Murphy replied and looked down as he placed his phone back in his pocket.

"What she 'ave to say?" I asked curious as to how they were reacting to the death of another of the mob people.

"It's not good" Murphy looked up at me and shook his head as he spoke, "Mel says Cassidy isn't 'andling it well, that she's comin' for ya for sure" I raised my eyebrows at the sound of this, finally I was going to have a showdown with the infamous Cassidy Morelli, I was going to hate to get rid of such a pretty piece of ass.

That Night

I was laying in my bed thinking of what to do and I decided that I'd go down the bar and hangout with Murphy and Doc, Murphy had already gone down about an hour ago but I had opted to stay behind and relax. I was walking down the sidewalk when my cellphone started to ring and I took it out and answered it.

"'ello?" I questioned.

"We need to meet, I have some stuff to discuss with you about Melanie and Murphy" I recognized Cassidy's voice and it sounded too calm for her to be as upset as Murphy had told me earlier.

"Sure, Hotel Motel?" I asked and smirked to myself.

"Whatever, text me the room number" She said and I could tell she was aggravated and I closed my phone and turned around to head to the hotel.

Cassidy's POV

"Hey Mel, I'm going out, be back later" I called but Melanie stepped out of the kitchen and blocked my way.

"Are you sure you need to be going out tonight?" She asked and I couldn't help but roll my eyes and groan like I had so many times with my mom. Once again I was remembering someone who was gone, sooner or later I wouldn't have anyone alive to share here and now moments with, but I would put an end to that tonight by taking Connor out, then Murphy.

"Yes Mom!" I smirked and her face relaxed slightly but I could still see she wasn't excited about me leaving "I'll be fine" I winked and walked out the door not leaving time for her to give me any speeches. I got in my car and headed down to the bar so I would know how to get to the hotel. I parked my car and sat there waiting for Connor to text me what room to go to. Finally my phone buzzed to life and I looked down and pressed a button to look at my inbox, 'Room 17', was all it said and I got out of my car. I checked the gun on my thigh and checked the bullets that were strapped around my other thigh, I grabbed the jacket I was wearing and wrapped it around me to hide the weapons and made my way towards the hotel. Walking in I wasn't really sure where to go so I glanced down the first hallway and noticed that it was rooms 1-19 so I headed down and knocked lightly on room 17's door. I unwrapped my coat from around me while I waited and clasped my hand around the handle of my gun, as soon as he opened the door I would charge. The door slowly opened and I stepped in and immediately unholstered my gun and pointed it at Connor.

"Wow" Connor called out and threw up his hands in surrender and laughed.

"What are you laughing about" I kept my gun pointed at him.

"At da fact ya tink you're gonna shoot me" Connor dropped a hand down behind his back and pulled out a gun of his own and this time it was my turn to laugh and Connor turned his head in a questioning look.

"That's the second time you've pointed that at me, I don't think you're going to shoot me either" I smirked but kept my gun pointed at him, "Me on the other hand, I'm very emotional right now so I may just accidentally slip and pull the trigger" I pointed my gun to the side and fired on round. Connor jumped slightly and went to cover his head.

"Shit!" He hollered.

"Now who's bluffing" I smirked and lined my gun back up with him. Connor focused on my once again and put his gun up to match mine.

"We knew 'is would eventually end" Connor spoke and we began to walk in a steady circle.

"Like I told you, one leaving without a gun, I just forgot to say in a body bag as well" I continued to step over my feet as we kept our guns on each other and walked in a circle.

"Yes, but ya never specified who would be doin' what" Connor pointed out and I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

"You don't get to speak anymore, it's my turn" I paused and he gave me a look that said continue so I did, "First my father, then my Uncle Bennie, then Uncle Henry, and now Uncle Geoff, out of all of those men one of them meant the world to me and for that you will pay, for all the heartaches you've caused everyone but especially me" I paused as a tear ran down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away with the other hand.

"You are the devil in disguise, but I see through that disguise and I'm going to save the world from the sorry excuse for a man that lives within your soul, you don't deserve to live, not when you are just as cold hearted as you seem to think I am" I paused again and watched Connor, but he was just calmly watching me.

"My family, you targeted my family, and my cousin, you even have her curupted and sleeping with your brother, which is just as bad as you if not worse if he continues to play the innocent act, both of you are filthy and the fact that I thought about you for two seconds after the first time I met you makes me want to puke, Connor MacManus I am going to kill you so that you can no longer cause anymore hurt, you will never look at me, you will never be a thought in my mind, and you sure as hell will never kill anyone I know, I despise you and your existence and for that I will pull the trigger and you will cease to exist" I finished my long speech and readied myself to pull the trigger. Connor raised and eyebrow at me as he waited.

"You can't do it Sadie, jus' put da gun down" Connor took a step towards me.

"What did I tell you about calling me Sadie!" I shouted at him, "You just love to piss me off" I growled and continued to flew my finger on the trigger.

"I do actually" Connor took another step towards me.

"Back up I'm warning you!" I shouted again.

"Ya warnin' me, shit ya sound jus' like my damn brudder, pull the god damn trigger an' get it over wit'" Connor shouted getting pissed himself.

"We wouldn't be in this damn situation if you would have just left my family alone in the first place" I shouted back.

"Or if I would 'ave jus' 'ad da guts ta shoot ya that first night, I wouldn't be standin' 'ere listin' to ya bitch" At this my mouth dropped open and I was almost to my boiling point.

"Yea, well I wish you would have done it because then I would have to be hear listening to your sorry Irish ass trying to prove that killing my family was the right thing to do, I fucking hate you right now and all I want to do is-" I didn't have the chance to finish my sentence because my lips were soon closed by something I didn't think could happen, let alone something I enjoyed once it started.

**A/N: So here is chapter 13 I am sincerely impressed that I have managed to write 13 chapters of over 2,000 words per chapter (minus 1). Well this chapter was exciting right? Next chapter gonna be even better, cliffhanger hope ya enjoy! What did Connor do? Will Cassidy ever be ok? Will Melanie snap? Read on! Thanks **_McBrideReedusLove_** for your review. Wanna me mentioned R&R Please!**


	14. Chapter 14

Cassidy's POV

Connor had charged at me with his gun in one hand and with his free hand he cupped my face and took hold of my jaw and kissed me. I was shocked at what was happening as Connor's lips were pressed against mine, but I wasn't fighting him I was frozen and couldn't move but a part of my brain was screaming 'finally'. When I realized what was happening and regained control of my body again I tried to push Connor away but as soon as he was pushed back he came right at me again and I was lost once again in the bliss of it all and reached my hand up to hold his face similar to the way he was holding mine. My instincts finally took over and I shoved Connor back with all my might and glared at him.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!" I screamed and he stood there eyeing me and I suddenly felt very exposed even though I was completely clothed. The look on his face was driving me crazy and all I could do was stand there, I wanted to kill him I wanted to run out the door, but a tiny part of my brain wanted to run towards him and pick up where we left off. Suddenly I was aware that Connor was slowly walking towards me not taking his eyes off mine, instinctively I glanced away at the awkward eye contact. But when I looked back at him he was right in my face and he narrowed his eyes and cocked an eyebrow quickly before catching me off guard again with one of his violent yet gentle kisses. This time I was to weak in the stomach to push him away, the hate that I had previously felt for him was instantaneously turned into passion and I found myself kissing him back just as hard a desperately as he was. We fought for possession of the lead and I finally gave into him as he pushed me up against the wall and continued to kiss my lips and then dropped down to kiss my neck. When I grew impatient I reached my hand up and grabbed his chin to bring his lips back up to mine for another kiss and it was so breathtaking that I forgot where I was for a second. It felt like he was trying to become one with me as he pressed his lips against mine aggressively and I finally playfully shoved him back so I could catch my breath.

"I fucking hate you" I growled.

"I fuckin' 'ate ya too" He replied and dove back in for another kiss and I was lost again. The little part of my brain that had previously denied all its pleasure was now at the forefront and the rational part of my brain was quietly yelling in the background 'kill him'. I ignored the rational part and gave in to the denied portion and was not regretting anything at the moment. I finally shoved myself off of the wall and Connor and I stumbled back towards the bed as out lips stayed glued together. I continued to push Connor back until we finally made it to the bed and Connor fell backwards as I fell on top of him and I couldn't help but laugh at the stupidity of it all. When I looked down at Connor he had the same wild look on his face that he had earlier but he was smiling and I could see light in his eyes. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that I was finally able to see the real Connor, not the hard exterior that he wanted people to think was the real him, I was also enjoying the real smile that I was seeing, the kind that reaches up into the cheeks and makes the eyes smile and twinkle. As I was admiring his smile and his eyes Connor threw me to the side of him and crawled on top of me and resumed our kissing. Every kiss he laid on my lips made it seem like he was desperate for affection, like he hadn't been this close to anyone in a long time and he was trying to absorb all that he could. As the kissing got less intense the rational part of my brain started getting louder and louder and I didn't notice it but I started kissing more aggressively and clawing at Connor's back. When I opened my eyes and saw who it was again my anger boiled over and it was immediately turned into passion, but not loving passion, hate and despise that fueled the intimate beating I was giving Connor. Connor finally backed off of me and stood up and pulled his shirt over his shoulder, the tiny part of my brain spoke up again but I silenced it once again, if I was going to do this I needed my anger to fuel this. I could tell Connor saw the fire in my eyes and the light fled out of his own and was replaced by darkness, the darkness that was so familiar to me and that just fueled my anger more. As he stood there watching me I scooted back onto the bed and narrowed my eyes daring him to make a move. He continued to stand there and I groaned as I climbed onto my knees and walked over to the side of the bed in front of him.

"Just fucking do it already you good for nothing prick" I provoked and he finally looked down at me and I smiled wildly at the look on his face. He reached his hand behind me and grabbed onto my hair as he pushed me back on the bed with his kisses and crawled onto the bed with me. I was pushed back into the bed violently and he continued to kiss me and dropped down to my neck and then grabbed the shirt I was wearing and ripped it down the middle from the ribbed v-neck down. I glared at him as that was one of my favorite shirts and he just shrugged before continuing his kisses down my stomach and around my belly button. I squirmed under his kisses trying not to laugh at the fact that everything he was touching was extremely ticklish. Finally my squirming started to piss him off and he used his body weight against me to stop me from moving and unbuttoned my pants and pulled them off in one swift movement. I was thankful that he didn't rip those off too, but I was still mad about the shit so when he came back to my lips for a kiss I bit down on his lips hard.

"Ya bitch" He grumbled and this just made him kiss me harder as he wrapped his arm around my back and brought me closer to him. I was getting much to comfortable in the position I was in so I pushed him off of me and slammed him onto his back as I swung my leg over him and sat down on his pelvis. I leaned down aggressively and kissed him before taking his pants off in a similar fashion to how mine were taken off and I could feel him beneath me much more now.

"So angry women get you off?" I asked looking down at him and trying to make him more mad, no sense in only one of us being infuriated.

"Jus' you 'oney" She spat and I glared at him before leaning down and attacking his lips impatiently, as I kissed him he nipped at my lip and finally bit down and I recoiled and shook my head and him before reaching my hand down and grabbing him as a warning. My plan hadn't worked as he smirked at me turned on once again. He flipped us over so I was on the bottom and used his body weight and his strength to hold my hands above my head as he continued to kiss my body all over. Finally he came back up to my lips and I allowed him to slip his tongue in between my lips and toy with my own. The kiss deepened and deepened until I was completely lost in the movement of his body, the last thing I remembered was him shooting my panties across the room like a sling shot.

I woke up the next morning and stretched not remembering just where I was, it wasn't until I heard slight snoring beside me that my eyes shot open as I turned to see Connor sleeping peacefully with his arms tucked under the pillow. I climbed out of bed slowly and made sure not to wake him up, I searched the room for my clothes and put them on as I gathered them. When I found my shirt I cursed at Connor for ripping it because now I didn't have a shirt to wear so I grabbed my jacket and wrapped it around me. I picked up my gun off the floor and then spotted Connor's gun over by the wall, he must have dropped it when he shoved me up against the wall. I smirked to myself as I picked up the gun and hid it in my pocket, after all I had told him that one of us would leave without a gun. I snuck out of the door and practically ran out of the hotel and down to my car, I wanted to get as far away from Connor before he woke up, last night had not gone as I had expected and I sure as hell didn't want to face him after that, after all I still did hate him, sex changed nothing.

Connor's POV

I startled awake at the strange dream I was having, it had involved Cassidy and I in a hotel room and some very intense moments. When I opened my eyes and saw that I was in fact in a hotel room I groaned to myself as everything I thought was a dream was now realized as reality. I sat up in bed and ran a hand through my hair and rubbed my face with my hand trying to wake myself up.

"Damn what a night" I said to myself and started to put on my clothes, when I went to look for my gun I couldn't find it anywhere and I had a sneaking suspicion that Cassidy had taken it with her. I took out my phone and saw that I had 5 voicemails.

"Christ, who would be callin' me" I pressed the right buttons so I could listen to al my messages, the first four were from Murphy worried that I had killed Cassidy at first and then worried that Cassidy had killed me, my brother knew nothing. The fifth message made me smirk as I listened to Cassidy's arrogant voice tell me a message.

"Connor, I want to thank you so much for the gun, it really is a nice gun, I hope you won't be needing it anytime soon because I've grown quiet attached to it you see, I would really hate to part with it, well thanks again, see ya when my gun starts to miss you, have a nice day sweetie" After her last word she blew a kiss and I could help but laugh, she was a woman of many tricks and I had to admit that she had bested me. I gathered what I had left and started to walk out of the hotel and I dialed Cassidy's number so I could leave her a reply.

"Dear innocent Sadie, I'm just calling to let you know that I am very thankful that you took my gun because you see I have its twin at home and sooner or later it will want to be reunited with its brother, so don't be surprised if he randomly shows up and takes it back by force" I hung up the phone and started to walk back to the apartment. As I was walking up the stairs to the apartment my phone buzzed to life and I saw I had a text message, I opened the phone and read it 'looking forward to it stud' I shook my head at the ridiculous message Cassidy had sent and quickly read the next one that came in 'what did I tell you about calling me Sadie!' I smirked to myself, but Murphy rushing at me as soon as I opened the door soon disturbed my thoughts.

"Where da fuck 'ave ya been, I thought ya 'ere dead or she was dead or ya both 'ere dead, where 'ere ya?" Murphy asked standing in front of me.

"Good mornin' to ya too brudder" I groaned at the million things my brother was saying to me after I just walked in the door.

"Is she dead?" He asked this time slowing down his speech and not sounding as frantic.

"No, defiantly not dead" I smirked to myself and hoped that Murphy didn't see it.

"Well you ain't dead, so what da 'ell 'appened?" He asked following me everywhere I went.

"Ya mind" I snapped getting tired of him being so close, "We talked it out an' everyting is jus' fine" I lied and Murphy shook his head.

"It don't tak' all night to talk tings out" Murphy pushed on and I just tried to shrug him off.

"I don't know wha' ta tell ya Murph, dat's what 'appened an' dat's it" I walked over to the shower and stripped naked so I could wash the nights events off of my body.

"Yea, sure" Murphy grumbled to himself and all I did was shake my head, unlike my brother I didn't wear my heart on my sleeve so he would never suspect a thing about last night. It still amazed me how it went from a show down at the ok-coral to a heated hate-sex game, I had to admit she wasn't that bad for a rich spoiled girl.

**A/N: So here is the next chapter, was that not intense, what are Connor and Cassidy going to do now, they still hate each other, or will this all change the way they feel. Hope you enjoy! So I have a play list for this story when I write it and some of the lyrics go with it so I am going to release song number one right now, not necessarily for this chapter, but more for Cassidy in general, Lucky Strike by: Maroon 5. Thank you so much **_McBrideReedusLover _**and **_Sissymac_** for your reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	15. Chapter 15

Melanie's POV

I was sitting at home waiting impatiently for Cassidy to come home or call me to let me know she was safe, the longer I sat the there more worried I got that she hadn't made it out alive. When I heard the front door open I ran out of the living room and almost tripped over my own feet to try and get to her.

"Oh thank god you're ok" I said catching my breath and clutching a hand to my chest.

"You doubted me" Cassidy smirked and took off her coat and hung it on the rack and I stared at he confused because she was standing in front of me dressed from the waist down but only in her bra from the waist up.

"What the hell happened?" I asked looking at her shocked.

"Well I was tight on cash so I thought I'd sell my body for the night to get some more drinks down at the bar" Cassidy shrugged and I looked at her my mouth wide open at the things she was saying, "Oh relax, don't take me so seriously all the time, I spilled a drink on it last night so I threw it out" She walked past me and ran up the stairs to grab another shirt. I waited at the base of the stairs for her to return so she could explain everything that went down.

"So I take it Connor is dead if you are standing here in front of me?" I asked not knowing is she ever really knew that I knew what she was really going out for last night.

"Nah, I didn't even end up seeing him, waited at the bar and he never showed up, it's a shame though I was really looking forward to nailing him" And she laughed a little too hard at her own comment as I looked at her oddly.

"Oh, come on it was a joke, laugh damnit" I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness that was my cousin.

"There ya go, that's more like it" She smile and walked into the kitchen.

"So that's it you were out at the bar all night?" I asked still wondering why she wouldn't have just come home after being at the bar.

"Well, you see I had a little bit too much to drink and I met a guy and ya know we hit it off, so we went back to his place, fooled around and I crashed there" Cassidy explained practically chugging a full bottle of water.

"Fooled around huh" I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow.

"Yea, why not, ain't got nothing better to do" She shrugged her shoulders and tossed the empty water bottle into the trashcan and kept her eyes there for a second longer than normal.

"Cassidy are you ok, you know with everything that's been going on?" I asked and walked over to her, but she immediately snapped out of whatever daydream she was having and looked at me.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be, I'm the big boss lady, gotta keep my head on straight of else everyone else loses their heads" She smiled and I couldn't quite place her mood, I couldn't tell if she was genuinely happy or she was putting on one heck of a show. I eyed her suspiciously as she tidied the kitchen and started to make herself some breakfast.

"Yea, I guess so" I said and kept a watchful eye on her, "Hey, I'll be right back" I said and walked back out onto the patio and squinted at the bright sun that had decided to make itself known. I took out my cell phone and called Murphy, I felt I needed to apologize and see if Connor really was still alive because I was getting the sneaking suspicion that Cassidy may have killed him, that certainly would explain her odd mood.

"'ello" Murphy answered and I smiled at the sound of his voice, I immediately felt bad for yelling at him yesterday morning.

"I'm sorry" I said and I knew that the things I said to him were true deep down inside but the manner in which I said them to him wasn't right.

"I know, ya 'ere upset I understand" Murphy said and I could hear a smile in his voice as he spoke, this made me smile even wider.

"Can I see you tonight?" I asked suddenly feeling the need to be close to him and spend some quality time with him and possibly talk some more about everything that had been happening.

"Let me check, hey Connor I'm goin' out tonigh' dat ok?" He hollered at Connor who was obviously on the other side of the room.

"I don't give a shit" I heard Connor reply in a muffled tone and I figured he probably had a cigarette in his mouth.

"Yea, I'm free" Murphy replied back and I told him to meet in our usual spot, which was in the alley behind the Hotel Motel.

"Before we hang up, was Connor home all night?" I asked curious to see if Cassidy's story was actually the truth.

"Nah, he got 'ome jus' this mornin'" Murphy answered and I found this very odd.

"Did he say where he was?" I asked pressing further into the issue.

"Dint say where 'e was but he did say he talked to Cassidy 'bout stuff" He explained and I knew she had been lying.

"Oh really, because Cassidy's story was she went to the bar to find Connor and didn't find him so she hooked up with a random guy and slept at his place" I paused, "Pretty funny that Connor would say he was with her last night when she says otherwise" I finished.

"So one of 'em is lyin'" Murphy suggested and I agreed.

"But which one?" I asked, I had a feeling it was Cassidy but there was no real way fro me to be sure.

"Connor wouldn't lie 'bout bein' wit Cassidy, I know 'e ain't lyin'" Murphy explained and I took his word for it, so that meant Cassidy was lying about where she was last night, but why.

"See if you can get some more information out of Connor about last night and I'll try and squeeze some truth out of Cassidy, when we meet tonight we can discuss it" I suggested.

"Alright" Murphy said.

"See ya babe" I smiled into the phone and hung up before walking back into the house.

"You seem in a chipper mood" Cassidy pointed out and I couldn't help but laugh.

"I could say the same about you" She sat down in the living room and placed her plate of various breakfast foods on the table in front of her.

"Oh yeah?" She turned and looked at me questioningly.

"Yea, you've been in a really good mood since you got home, this guy last night must have been some guy" I smiled trying to get her to reveal the truth, I knew she had been with Connor last night I just wasn't sure what had gone down. I knew for a fact that she would never hook up with him, but if they did meet I was surprised that Connor was still alive.

"Yea, he was some guy alright" Cassidy rolled her eyes.

"So you didn't enjoy him?" I asked sitting down next to her.

"Not really it was more of a way to pass the time" She shrugged her shoulders and shoved a fork full of eggs in her mouth.

"I see, so you are that type of girl now, one that sleeps with people just because you can?" I pressed on.

"Geez Mel, are you my mother or what?" She spoke with a mouth full of food and I had to stop myself from telling her not to talk with her mouth full.

"No, I'm not your mother, but I think it's about time you start acting like her" The words had come out of my mouth before I really knew what I was saying, and I knew the back lash fro my words would not be good.

"What?" Cassidy turned and looked at me and the fire that had died down in her eyes since Geoff was refueled as he gaze settled on my eyes.

"Cassidy I didn't mean it I swear, I just know you're hiding something from me and I wanna know what happened for real last night" I explained and Cassidy put her fork down on her plate.

"You wanna know what happened last night, you really want to know what happened last night" She paused and I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat nodding my head as she egged me on, "Go ask your little piece of ass Murphy MacManus what happened last night, I'm sure Connor just couldn't wait to tell him all about it" She raised her voice but never yelled. I was completely shocked by the fact that she had known about Murphy and I.

"Oh, don't look so shocked Mel, Connor and I both knew about you guys for awhile we just chose not to say anything" Cassidy smirked and this time it was my turn to get mad.

"Seriously you knew and you didn't say anything about it to me?" I questioned.

"I hinted at it a few times, but I wanted you to tell me it wasn't technically my business you can screw who ever you want to screw" She laughed and I couldn't help but think of Connor and how he would have said a line quite similar to that one.

"Yea, well that still doesn't tell me what you did last night" I tried to ignore the fact that she had deliberately not told me about her knowing about my not so secret affair.

"I told you to ask Murphy, hell ask Connor, but you will not be getting any information about last night from me" Cassidy pretended to zip her lips shut lock them and throw away the key. I sighed to myself and tried to preoccupy myself with the TV, but all I could think about was all the possible things that could have gone down last night.

That Night

I walked to the alley behind the Hotel Motel and was glad to see that Murphy was already there, my happiness soon turned to sadness when I realized that our fun of sneaking around was now over since Connor and Cassidy knew.

"Murphy" I smiled at him as he turned around and embraced me in a hug and have me a soft kiss on my lips.

"Hey Mel, 'ow 're ya?" He asked and took my hand in his as we walked in the back door of the hotel.

"I'm fine I guess" I sighed.

"Fine, why only fine?" Murphy asked and I could hear the slight panic in his voice.

"Melanie knows about us, and she said Connor knows too" I looked up and him and he avoided my eyes.

"Connor knew da first night we ya know, he saw da scratched in my back" Murphy explained and I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks and I properly blushed.

"So much for our sneaky love affair" I laughed still sad that it was over.

"'ho said it 'ad ta be over?" Murphy slipped his hand under my chin and caught me off guard by a very deep kiss, I kissed him back and before long we were locked in a heated kissing battle and we hadn't even made it to our room yet. When Murphy finally broke away I frowned at him as he smirked to himself.

"Come on, out room's down 'ere" He said and we walked down the hallway and Murphy opened the door to room 17, I immediately ran over to the bed and jumped on it. As I jumped on the bed Murphy laughed out loud and walked over when something caught his eye. He held up a red shirt that had shaken loose from between the mattresses and I stared at it in horror.

"Either that's Cassidy's blouse form last night, or someone else that stayed in this room has really nice taste in clothing" I grabbed the cloth from Murphy's hands and inspected it. It had been ripped right off if I deduced the tear correctly definitely not the story of a spilt drink that Cassidy had spun earlier that day.

"What was she doin' 'ere?" Murphy asked looking around and something else apparently caught his attention as he walked over to the wall behind me.

"What is it?" I asked watching him.

"Bullet hole" He spoke and I stressed my brain trying to figure out what Cassidy's blouse and a bullet whole had in common with Cassidy and Connor being together last night. I shook my head when nothing came to mind and focused my attention back on Murphy. He turned back to look at me and winked at him before he came over and climbed on the bed covering my neck in kisses as I forgot all about my previous thoughts, he had that effect on me always taking my mind to better places and I was thankful for the time that were spent together. As Murphy unbuttoned my blouse and smiled to myself, in the midst of all the chaos that had been going on I was able to have one thing that truly made me happy. Cassidy was on my mind for a second but I promised myself that I would worry about her later, right now it was all about me.

**A/N: Well here it is chapter 15, super excited that I made it this far! Hope you enjoy it. The next song in the playlist of Line of Blood, is none other than Line of Blood by: Ty Stone. Thanks **_Sissymac_** and **_McBrideReedusLover _**for your reviews. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	16. Chapter 16

Melanie's POV

When I woke up I saw Murphy standing in the corner of the room whispering on his cell phone and immediately pretended to be asleep when he turned to glance at me.

"Connor, I'm not goin' ta use 'er to get ya information, no, no, end of discussion, oh fuck you too" Murphy groaned and shut his phone and threw it on the chair with the rest of his clothes. He walked over to the bed and sat down with an exasperated sigh.

"What's a matter?" I asked clearly startling him as he jumped and looked at me with shock in his eyes.

"Connor, one minute 'es pissed 'bout me bein' wit ya, then the next 'e wants me ta use ya ta 'elp 'im" Murphy shook his head and I could tell he was quite conflicted by helping his brother and keeping me and my family safe.

"What does he want to know?" I asked wondering if there was a way that Murphy could have the best of both worlds.

"He wants to know who they will put in charge next, we can't seem to get out informants to name any names anymore, and obviously all our hits so far havent been right because the mob never skipped a beat" Murphy finished and I had to bit my tongue before I told him that Cassidy was really in charge and running things, so I came up with a lie.

"I can give you some names of some high guys that have been causing some major problems, but this stays between you and, you don't tell Connor I told you and I won't tell Cassidy I told you, deal?" I watched him making sure he understood that if I got caught giving names to the Saints it would be more than just Cassidy gunning for me.

"Deal" Murphy smiled and leaned down to seal our wicked deal with a kiss. Murphy was doing strange things to me, just last week I would have never sold out my own extended family, but he made me want to keep the peace, and if that meant that a few lives were lost I was surprisingly ok with it. I pulled away from our kiss before it got too heated and looked at him with a frown.

"What now?" He asked not wanting to know the answer by the tone in his voice.

"It's just that Geoff was really close to us and now he's gone" I tried to hold back the tears but once I started thinking about it I couldn't stop them from pouring out of my eyes. Murphy did what any man would do and he hesitated and then awkwardly held me as I cried into his chest. Once again I was conflicted I was glad to be crying into my boyfriends chest and being comforted, but in the end he had been the one to kill Geoff so I was angry as well. I let all my emotions flow out of me as I sat in bed with Murphy stroking my hair in an effort to calm me down.

Cassidy's POV

Next Morning

Melanie had gotten in late last night and I ignored the fact that she looked like hell and had obviously had sex with Murphy even though the bastard had killed Geoff. I loved my cousin but I couldn't help but resent her a little bit for he utter lack of anger at her new boyfriend, if you could even call him that. I groaned to myself as I poured another cup of coffee from our new coffee pot, since I had thrown away the old one. I hadn't slept well the night before still reeling from Connor and Geoff, why did everything have to be so complicated. I checked the clock at it was about 11:30 in the morning and everyone was supposed to start arriving for the wake at noon, then the funeral would be tomorrow morning at 9. I slapped my hands on my cheeks to try and wake myself up a little more and turned to see my brother Joe walk into the kitchen.

"Morning" He grumbled and I laughed to myself, that was about the only way you could tell we were related was the fact we were not morning people at all, but night owls at heart.

"Morning" I replied and handed him a cup of coffee, he nodded and sat down at the table and I followed suit.

"How you feeling?" He asked and looked up at me as he took a drink from his mug.

"As good as can be expected" I shrugged. It was hard, I was still having difficulties controlling my emotions after my wall had been shattered yesterday. It had taken me years to build the barrier that my father had wanted me to have and in a matter of seconds it had been demolished and I was left with a pile of rubble, "How you doing?" I asked knowing this wasn't all that easy for my brother either.

"About the same, just trying to be strong for my little sister" He smiled at me and I about lost it again, but managed to keep my tears under control.

"Yea" I paused and glanced at the clock again and realized that Melanie still hadn't come downstairs, "I'm going to go see what's keeping Melanie" I stood up and walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to Melanie's room.

"Mel?" I called as I opened the door and walked in. I sighed to myself as I saw she was still fast asleep in bed, time to do what my mom always used to do. I flipped on the light switch and then walked over to Melanie's bed and ripped the covers off of her and dragged them out of the room so she could no longer seek warmth. She groaned and sleepily searched for the covers but never found them.

"Get your ass up and get dressed everyone will be here in like ten minutes, wipe the Saint sex off your face and kick it into gear" I let loose some of my anger as she finally opened her eyes and looked at me. Obviously I didn't look like I was playing around because she immediately jumped out of bed grabbed some clothes and ran into her bathroom. I smiled to myself and left the room to go downstairs again. When I made it to the bottom floor I saw Vinny standing there talking to Joe, since the death of my father and my uncles Vinny was the new second in command and was a distant cousin on my dads side.

"Cassidy, how are you, I'm so sorry about your loss" Vinny walked over and gave me a hug and I gave Joe a weird look and he just shrugged his shoulders in confusion.

"Thanks Vinny, you're here early" I looked at him after he released me from the hug.

"I figured that number two needs to be here to welcome everyone" Vinny smiled and adjusted his tie. He was way too proud about being number two now and it irritated me.

"Yea" I nodded just agreeing with him so he would leave me alone. The wake went by without a lot of hitches, there were a few more tears and lots of hugs, but by the end of I all I felt a little better about the whole thing, but by no means had I forgotten who was responsible for all this. The last person left and I closed the door and heaved a sigh of relief, it was late afternoon about 5:30ish and I was tired of the hustle and bustle that had been my house for the past five or so hours. I noticed Melanie standing in the living room looking outside and I decided to go over and talk to her, she had avoided me like the plague all day today and I was determined to ask her why.

"Hello, my name is Cassidy I don't believe me met?" I stuck out my hand as I approached her and she just smirked at me.

"Very funny Cass" She mocked me and I smiled.

"What's up nut?" I asked trying to cheer her up a bit because it seemed like she was totally drained.

"Are you mad at me, like really mad at me for the whole Murphy thing?" Melanie asked and I was caught off guard by her question. I hadn't really thought about it but I guess I was a little furious that after everything the Saints had done she was screwing one, but then again I had screwed the other, so how could I judge that.

"Do you love him?" I asked and this time I caught her off guard and she looked at me shocked.

"I don't know I haven't really thought about it, I mean I've only known him for a little over a week, so it's hard to tell, especially after everything he's done, but he makes me happy, that much I do know" I listened to everything she was saying and it made sense. As much as I wanted to hate her and Murphy for getting involved with each other, it wasn't like they had planned it and she was happy and that's what really mattered in my eyes. Plus in my head I pinned Connor as the evil mastermind and blamed him for most of the things that went down.

"No, I'm not mad at you for liking someone, but I am mad that you didn't tell me about it sooner and that I had to hear it from Connor" I rolled my eyes and Melanie laughed.

"You really don't like him, not even just a little?" She asked and I scoffed.

"Let's just say if he was on fire I would blow on him to cool him down" I laughed and Melanie giggled along with me.

"That's a shame, could be fun both of us dating them" At this I busted out laughing, that was until I saw that Melanie was being serious.

"Listen Mel, I'm all for happiness, but I can guarantee you that there will never be anything between me and Connor except hate, so I'm sorry if I busted your bubble, but that ship will never sail" I smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

"Oh, that reminds me I have a question to ask you" Melanie started and I looked at her waiting for her to continue, "Your red vintage designer v neck shirt do you still have that, I wanted to borrow it to wear out to the club next weekend" Melanie asked and I immediately panicked on the inside, I had totally left it in the Hotel Motel after I had slipped out the next morning, shit!

"I haven't seen that shit in forever I'd have to look for it" I tried to get her off the idea of it as fast as I could.

"Well why don't we go look for it, I really would like to wear it" Melanie pushed on and I silently groaned to myself at the thought of us not finding the top in my closet.

"Ok, let me go get a bottle of water and I'll meet you in my room" I smiled and we walked towards the stairs and parted ways as I walked into the kitchen and outwardly panicked. I paced in the kitchen trying to think of something I could say about the shirt, I had already told her I had thrown it out, but she obviously didn't believe that, but why didn't she believe that. I walked up the stairs and into my room and was about to ask her why she wanted it when I had spilt a drink on it when I saw the ripped shirt sitting on my bed.

"Oh my god, what happened to it, this is one of my favorite shirts" I tried to act surprised and hurt at the tattered state of my shirt, but I could tell that Melanie wasn't amused as she stood there tapping her shoe on the floor.

"Ok where did you find it?" I asked knowing that the jig was up.

"Room 17 at the Hotel Motel, why were you there and why the hell was your shirt ripped?" She asked and I tried to control the blush that was clearly forming on my cheeks, but it was no use.

"Connor and I met there to discuss some things, we had our guns out and we got into a fight and he ripped my shirt and I was so pissed that I ripped the rest of it off and forgot to grab it when I left the next morning" I explained and hoped that the little bit of truth that was in my lie would make it more convincing.

"You're trying to tell me that Connor layed hands on you?" Melanie asked and I almost laughed because Connor had definitely layed hands all over me. I shook the thoughts out of my mind and looked Melanie square in the eyes.

"Yes, we fought, look I even have his gun to prove it" I walked over to my coat and pulled out one of Connor's guns with the silencer still attached.

"I see, so nothing else happened, you guys just quarreled?" She asked and I bit at my bottom lip debating on whether to tell her or not and I was bound to keep it a secret, especially after what I had said earlier about Connor and I never getting involved. While the statement was true, because I would never voluntarily get involved with Connor, I had technically already gotten very involved with him.

"Yeap" I nodded and watched as Melanie studied me, "Now get out of my room woman, I have mob things to attend to and I don't need prying eyes" I shooed her out of my room, wanting to get this terrifying interrogation over with as soon as possible.

"You're hiding something from me Cassidy Morelli and I will find out what" She glared at me suspiciously as she walked out of the room and I closed the door behind her.

**A/N: So her it is chapter 16! Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter is Timebomb by: Beck! Great song! Thank you **_McBrideReedusLover_** and S**_issymac_** for your reviews! Wanna me mentioned R&R Please!**


	17. Chapter 17

Cassidy's POV

I woke up the next morning around 7am so I would have enough time to get ready and have some breakfast before going to the cemetery for the funeral. Over the past two days I had managed to build up a temporary wall to control my emotions, but I figured that today would be the hardest day because my uncle would finally be laid to rest and it would be the last time I would see him. I pushed the feelings of fear and uneasiness down and forced myself out of bed and walked to the bathroom. I took my time as I undressed and climbed into the shower, I took my mind off of everything by extending my daily routine. I took extra care to shave my legs and everything and even used my favorite body wash instead of regular soap, and it felt nice to do something for me for once. I made my way down the stairs after I was dressed in a vintage black dress that had a v-neck with long lace sleeves and lace around the bottom hem and my black pumps. Food didn't sound very appealing to me so I opted for some orange juice relaxation as I waited for Joe and Melanie to get ready. Melanie walked down the stairs in her simple black cocktail dress and I looked her up an down.

"Damn, you clean up good" She blushed and looked at me embarrassed.

"I could say the same about you" She laughed and I have her a hug knowing that she was still having difficulty being strong for me.

"It's ok, you can feel now, I'm ok" I reassured her and she hugged me tighter trying to fight back the tears that she needed to cry. I rubbed her back and continued to hug her as I strengthened my emotional walls. Our hug was soon interrupted by Joe clearing his throat as he stood on the bottom step in his black suit with a blue tie.

"Damn, I'm just related to a lot of good looking people" I smiled at my brother and he just shook his head, he knew that humor was my outlet when it came to stressful or plain uncomfortable moments.

"Well ladies, I think it's time to go, don't want to be late" Joe said straightening his tie in the mirror and then turning to look at Melanie and I. I looked to my cousin and she nodded at me to tell me she was ready and we all walked out to the car. We arrived at the cemetery and took our seats in the front row of chairs directly in front of the casket. The priest nodded to use as we sat there waiting for others to arrive. By the time the funeral was about to start there were at least 100 people there and not enough chairs to even seat half of them, I had never known the my uncle had known so many people, but with his personality and charisma I could understand. I bowed my head as the priest said a prayer to end the hour and a half service and when I raised my head I spotted someone standing in the crowd that I thought I'd never see there. As everyone started to line up to give us their condolences I tried to keep my mind on other things, but when we neared the end of the line I heard a familiar voice and froze, he had a lot of nerve.

"I'm so sorry for ya loss" I didn't even bother glancing at my brother as I knew he was shaking Connor's hand.

"Thank you" My brother responded and I knew Connor would move onto Melanie next. He repeated his phrase and I could see out of the corner of my eye him bringing her hand to his lips and planting a soft kiss on it.

"Thanks" Melanie said and I could hear the skepticism in her voice as she looked at Connor. After he finished with her I knew he would be in front of me in a matter of seconds.

"I'm very sorry for ya loss, ya 'ave my condolences Sadie" I stuck out my hand to Connor and he brought it up to his lips just as he had with Melanie.

"Thank you Connor" I said his name through clenched teeth and put on a good face. Connor went on his way and I prayed that he would just leave, but as everyone was leaving I looked back towards the grave of my uncle and saw Connor standing there. I stormed over to him and confronted him.

"How dare you show up here, how dare you" I poked a finger into his sternum as I spoke.

"Calm down" He began but I cut him off and shoved him.

"Get away from here, don't even look at his grave, you are the one that did this and you have a lot of nerve showing up here" I continued to push him away as I stalked toward him.

"Sadie" Connor started and I shoved him again as hard as I could.

"Why must you keep calling me that, I've told you countless times to stop and you keep doing it, you kill my uncle and then you show up here, what is your game here?" I was angry but I was keeping my voice down so that we didn't draw anyone's attention away from what they were doing.

"I came ta get my gun back, I dint believe ya would freak out like dis" Connor took a step towards me and loomed over me.

"Freak out, believe me I could be doing a lot worse right now than just raising my voice, if you want me to freak out, that can be arranged" I growled and narrowed my eyes at Connor. Why did he have to make everything ten time more irritating.

"Just give me my gun" Connor held out his hand.

"You seriously think I brought it to my uncles funeral, have you lost your mind?" I pointed to my head rolling my eyes.

"Then, let's go get my gun" Connor looked at me and I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm not going anywhere with you and you aren't going with me anywhere, so forget about it, reschedule your appointment and we can talk later" I scoffed and started to walk away from him.

"Just give me my fuckin' gun" Connor said after he had grabbed my wrist and brought me back to him.

"No" I got about two inches away from his face and glared at him.

"Fine, ya goin' to regret dis" Connor started walking away and this time it was my turn to grab his wrist. He turned around at my touch and looked down at his arm before looking at me angrily.

"You don't get to decided when you leave, not when you interrupted all of this" I spoke, but it didn't seem like Connor was really hearing me, "Connor?" I asked trying to get his attention.

"I 'ave somewhere ta be, I'll be back for my gun at a later date" Connor continued to stand there and I looked at him oddly.

"Connor, why did you really come here today?" I asked looking into his eyes and the darkness I was so used to seeing wasn't there and it reminded me of the short glimpse I had of Connor the other night.

"My gun" He grumbled and yanked his arm away from my hand and stormed off. If anyone had the right to storm off it sure as hell wasn't Connor MacManus so I ran after him and confronted him once again.

"I understand you want your gun, but why come to the funeral, you could have just fucking texted me or called me, not ruin my mourning with the appearance of your face" I tried to look Connor in the eyes but he continued to avoid eye contact and I groaned when I couldn't get anymore words out of him, "Whatever Connor, be an ass again, after all it's what your good at" This time it was my turn to storm away and Connor did nothing to stop me. When I arrived at the car Joe looked at me wearily.

"Cass, who was that?" He asked and I mentally kicked myself because someone had seen us.

"Oh nobody" I shrugged and started to open the car door.

"Didn't look like nobody" Joe shut the door before I could open it all the way.

"Joe, don't worry about it, he doesn't matter" I reached fort he door again, but Joe stopped me.

"Cassidy Morelli, tell me who he was" Joe demanded and I rolled my eyes. My brother picks now to decide to fulfill all his brotherly duties.

"Don't even give me that shit Joe, you don't get to pull the brother card whenever you want, if you wont let me get in the damn car then I'll walked back to the fucking house" I turned my back and started walking towards the main road.

"Cassidy get your ass back over here and get in the car" Joe called and I walked over trying to hide my victory smile as I climbed into the car. Melanie and I were sitting in the back seat and she turned to look at me worried.

"Why was Connor here?" She whispered and I shook my head giving her my answer, "Cassidy, look at me, why was Connor at the funeral?" Melanie asked again.

"Melanie, give it a rest" I grumbled and she glared at me obviously not thrilled by my response.

Melanie's POV

I looked at Cassidy as I was getting irritated by her constant bad moods recently when it came to Connor. I knew she was hiding something from me and the fact that I couldn't figure it out was driving me crazy. We drove the rest of the way back to the house in silence and one could cut the tension with a knife. We made it back to the house and we all walked in and straight to the living room.

"Cassidy, what's been going on with you recently?" I asked trying to get some more information out of her.

"My uncle died, I'm allowed to be all over the place emotionally" She turned at glared at me.

"You know, I'm getting really tired of you glaring at me every time I try and see if you are ok, you need to stop pushing people away and let us help you" I explained and I watched as Cassidy's face softened slightly.

"I don't need any help, I need serenity" Cassidy shook her head apparently having her own mental battle.

"Well I'm sure if you get whatever is bothering you off your chest you would find serenity" I tried to see if she would open up to me but I could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't about to.

"I'm not hiding anything" Cassidy averted her eyes from me and I decided not to press any further.

"Ok" I said and sat there on the couch with her not saying anything else. I was trying to piece everything together in my head to come up with some sort of solution, but I was unable to find a connection.

"I can't stop thinking about the fact that Connor showed his face at the funeral" I couldn't help but bring it up again just because it was still on my mind.

"Yea, he's got a lot of nerve" Cassidy said and I heard something in her voice and when I glanced at her I saw a smirk disappear form her face.

"Were you just smirking about that, Cassidy what happened when you talked with him today?" I asked trying to get something out of Cassidy.

"He wanted his gun back" She laughed to herself as she spoke, "Like I would take his gun with me to the cemetery just in case he decided to show up, even though he said he would be back for it" I glanced at her and I could tell she was speaking without thinking and I figured now was my chance to ask the important questions.

"Why did you take his gun?" I asked curious as to why she would have taken the gun in the first place.

"Well I told him that night at the bar with Alex that one of the times we met with guns one of us would be leaving without a gun, but I meant that one of us would be dead I didn't mean that we would wake up in the morning and I would steal it" She laughed and I was confused as to why she was so lost in her own thoughts, that was until I saw the bottle of whiskey tucked under her jacket, obviously she had snuck that into her room and had been drinking it throughout the day.

"Woke up, why were you sleeping, you were talking right?" I asked and just like a light switch being flipped on I knew what had gone down and I couldn't wait to call Murphy and totally freak out.

**A/N: So here it is, another chapter! Hope you enjoy. Thank you **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac _**for your reviews! Song for this post is Suspicious Minds by: Elvis Presley. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please! (Btw Sissymac Love Si Robertson, hilarious!).**


	18. Chapter 18

Melanie's POV

I practically ran up to my room as I fumbled around trying to dial Murphy's cell phone number. I stood in the middle of my room and jumped up and down impatiently as I listened to the ringing.

"'Ello?" The phone was answered and I practically squealed.

"Connor and Cassidy slept together!" I screamed into the phone and the other line went silent, "Murphy, are you there?" I asked thinking that I had said something wrong.

"'Ello?" Once again the phone was answered.

"Murphy?" I asked confused.

"Yea, Connor jus' 'anded me my phone, what's goin' on?" Murphy asked and this time it was my time to be silent, Connor had answered the phone and I had just divulged that I knew he and Cassidy had slept together. Talk about wanting to hit yourself in the head.

"Well, your brother knows I know now, so why not tell you, Connor and Cassidy slept together, when they 'talked' they had sex" I explained and Murphy started laughing.

"Mel, ya listenin' to yaself dat's ridiculous ta think they would do dat" Murphy was speaking but I was ignoring everything he said, I was focused on the one thing that I was regretting, Connor knew I knew.

"Murphy, look at your brother, does he look like he isn't regretting something?" I asked and there was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"Ok, if what ya 're sayin' is true, why would day do it?" He asked and I hadn't thought that far in my plan, all I knew was that Connor and Cassidy had slept together and they were obviously very conflicted about it.

"I don't know, I thought she was on a mission to kill Connor not seduce him" I shrugged even though Murphy couldn't see it.

"Well dat's the farthest ting from killin' 'em" Murphy laughed to himself and I was getting frustrated.

"Well it fucking happened now quit trying to deny it and confront Connor about it!" I yelled getting impatient, all I wanted was to know how exactly it had gone down and why they were being so elusive about it.

Connor's POV

I was sitting on my bed trying to block out everything that was going through my mind, Cassidy had spilled her guts to Melanie and I was pissed. The whole thing that happened between Cassidy and I was a mistake fueled by anger and now her cousin thought it was this grand thing that had secret meaning. It had no secret meaning, just two people who hate each other turning that anger into heated passion and getting some fun into the mix. Murphy had left the room to continue to talk to Melanie and I was alone to be with my thoughts. I took out my own cell phone and angrily dialed Cassidy.

"Hello?" I heard her voice and it was slurred compared to normal and I was slightly worried.

"Sadie 're ya drunk?" I asked and she just laughed.

"Mom, is that you?" She replied and I knew right then that she was drunk.

"Sadie, where 're ya, 're ya at da bar?" I asked hoping that the answer was no, if she was that drunk in a bar, someone was sure to take advantage of her.

"I'm sitting on my couch" She said and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sadie, did ya say someting to Melanie 'bout what 'appened da other night?" I asked calmly and slowly so she would understand what I was saying.

"My mom calls be Sadie, but you aren't my mother, who is this?" She asked and I just shook my head not knowing how to get through to her.

"Stay where ya 're, I'm comin' over" I hung up my phone and headed out the door. Murphy looked at me with a questioning look on his face as I passed him, he was off the phone by now and was about to walk back into the apartment.

"Cassidy" I said quickly and continued to walk down the stairs.

"Connor wait!" I heard Murphy call for me and I stopped, "Melanie said someting dat I tink needs ta be addressed" I groaned and rolled my eyes not having time for this, I needed to talk to Cassidy about why she told Melanie about everything.

"Murph' I really need ta be goin'" I tried to explain but Murphy gave me a look that said I wasn't going anywhere son.

"Melanie can tak' care of Cassidy if need be" Murphy retorted and continued to look at me.

"Murph' we ain't never been da ones ta share feelin's so we ain't gonna start now" I said and Murphy just shook his head.

"I'm not talkin' 'bout feelin's I'm talkin' about the fact ya let a girl steal one of ya guns" Murphy glared at me and I breathed a sigh of relief, men were not supposed to speak of feelings and between me and Murphy that subject was always and forever off limits.

"She used 'er sex ta get it" I smirked and Murphy just laughed.

"Once again Connor gets bested by what lives in between a woman's legs" I couldn't help but laugh at this as well, that was man's one weakness, women and their sexuality.

"'Ey it was pretty damn good if ya ask me, and worth it in da end" I paused and Murphy was looking at me like I was a different person, "Gave me an opportunity ta torture 'er some more" At this Murphy nodded his head.

"Sure, sure" Murphy ended our conversation and walked away.

"I'm tellin' da truth" I started after him into the apartment.

"Mmhmm" Murphy smirked at me and continued to walk over to his bed and gather some things.

"Where do ya tink ya goin'" I asked watching him grab his duffel bag.

"We got a 'it" Murphy smiled and I looked at him confused because he had not discusses this with me prior to today.

"What do ya mean we got a 'it?" I asked and he threw my duffel bag at me.

"Hope ya will be comfortable wit only one gun" Murphy laughed and I glared at him as we started to walk out of the apartment.

Cassidy's POV

I was sitting on the couch in the living room as my head was swimming in the whiskey I had snuck into my room the other day when Melanie came into the room and startled me.

"Hey Mel, what's up?" I slurred and she just stood there with her arms crossed glaring at me. I couldn't help but laugh at her face because it was a cross between angry and super excited.

"Cassidy give me the whiskey" She held her hand out and I showed her the empty bottle.

"Oops" I smirked and she just shook her head. Today had been a hard day and I had numbed the pain and emotions by drinking, it was an easy outlet, and in the end it was entertaining.

"Cassidy Morelli" Melanie groaned to herself and I continued to laugh, "How could you do this, on the day of Geoff's funeral" Melanie shook her head in disbelief.

"I did it because of the funeral and because of Connor, I blame Connor for all of this, he infiltrated my mind and the only way to keep him at bay is to drink" I explained in my weird way why everything need to be suppressed.

"Connor, once again Connor comes up, what is going on with you two?" Melanie asked and I thought I saw a smile tug at her lips but I shrugged it off as the alcohol and shook my head.

"Connor has nothing to do with me" I watched Melanie's face and she seemed confused. When I thought about what I said I realized that it hadn't really made that much sense, "There is noting going on between Connor and I" I shook my head almost trying to make myself believe it.

"Mmhmm" Melanie said and I could tell she wasn't believing a word I was saying.

"Melanie" I whined and she just looked at me with a stern look.

"Cassidy, I think you need to go to bed and sleep this off, we have some talking to do in the morning" Melanie pointed to the stairs and I groaned knowing that she was right. I forced myself up off the couch and walked up the stairs and crashed on my bed, as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out like a light.

The Next Morning

The sun shined in the window and woke me up, I groaned at the headache that was now rocking my world and practically fell out of bed. I shuffled over to my bathroom and started the shower, I was determined to keep my headache from destroying my day. The room was filled with steam when I finally decided to hop in the shower and sighed when the hot water hit my back. I relaxed the longer I stood in the hot water and I was starting to feel better, more awake and ready for the day. I felt good until I got out of the shower and the cold air hit me, the air instantaneously brought back my headache and I groaned to myself and hurriedly got dressed. After I had thrown on a pair of jeans and an old t shirt I walked downstairs and tried to avert my eyes from the light that happened to be on in every room.

"Why are all the god damn lights on?" I growled as I walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, do you have a headache sorry I felt the house was a little dark this morning so I went around and turned all the lights on" Melanie smirked and I glared at her shaking my head.

"Thanks" I opened one of the cabinets and took out a bottle of Advil before pouring myself a cup of coffee.

"So, are you ready to talk?" Melanie asked and I turned and looked at her confused.

"What are you talking about?" She sighed and looked at me frustrated.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Melanie asked and I tried to think about the previous night. I remembered getting home from the funeral and getting the bottle of whiskey out of my room, I faintly remembered talking to Connor at one point but other than that I couldn't remember a thing and it was beginning to really bother me.

"I remember the funeral and Connor being there, why the hell was her there" I asked the last part to myself, and Melanie just shook her head.

"Cassidy we have some things to talk about" Melanie looked at me and I was shocked by the serious look on her face.

"About?" I asked trying to stall and think of something that I could use as an excuse.

"Connor and you" She stated and I groaned once again.

"Are you ever going to give that subject a rest, there is nothing going on there, just two enemies that hate each other, leave it at that" I turned around to pour myself another cup of coffee and tried to compose myself before turning back to my cousin.

"Just two enemies that hate each other and sleep together" Melanie said and I was too focused on my thoughts to hear everything she said.

"Exactly" I turned to finally face her and a smile as wide as her face had appeared, "What?" I asked confused.

"So you admit it" Melanie smiled even wider and I didn't even think it was possible.

"Admit what, Melanie you aren't making any sense" I growled and shook my head as she continued to sit there smiling like the Cheshire cat.

"That you and Connor slept together" This time I was actually listening to her and I froze in place not knowing what to say to her after that.

"I never admitted to that" I retorted and tried to avoid her eyes, "Why would you even think that?" I asked speaking more rapidly that I should be.

"Cassidy, I pieced everything together and the way you are blushing right now tells me everything" Melanie giggled to herself like a little school girl and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not blushing, I'm not feeling very well" I pretended to feel sick but Melanie shook her head and I knew I was busted for sure.

"You can't bullshit me Cass, you've tried so many times but I know your tells and judging by the shade of red that you are turning you enjoyed it" Melanie practically stood up and started jumping up and down.

"No" I demanded.

"You like Connor, you like Connor" Melanie started singing and I was beginning to get really irritated.

"Melanie I'm warning you" I side glanced at her as she continued to dance around in the kitchen. Her happy mood and my embarrassed one was soon interrupted by Joe walking in.

"Vinny's dead, looks like the Saints again" He informed us and I groaned for the hundredth time that morning and finished the cup of coffee in my hand before walking out the kitchen with my brother.

"We are finishing this discussion later!" Melanie called after me as I headed fort he front door. I prayed something terrible would happen and I would never have to come home because I was not looking forward to being cornered by Melanie about what happened with Connor and I.

**A/N: Chapter 18 wow! Hope everyone is enjoying! Song for this chapter shall be Enough by: Disturbed. Thank you **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for your reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	19. Chapter 19

Cassidy's POV

Joe and I made our way to Vinny's house in his squad car.

"What did Melanie mean by your discussion wasn't over yet?" Joe asked and I shrugged.

"I don't know she thinks something is going on, but she is wrong" I shook my head.

"You keep telling yourself that because by the look on your face little sister you are hiding something" Joe laughed as he glanced at me.

"I'm hiding a lot of things Joe as far as you know" I smirked as he laughed to himself.

"Cassidy Morelli is a box full of secrets" Joe continued to laugh as we finally arrived at the house and everything turned back to a serious mood. We got out of the car and walked past the caution tape to the front door. As we entered the room that Vinny had been killed in I noticed the man named Greenly that had interrogated me last week about the death of my father.

"What is she doin' here?" he asked pointing at me angrily.

"She's with me relax Greenly" Joe stepped in front of me and stared Greenly down. Greenly nodded his head and then turned back to the two men he had previously been talking to and continued to whisper to them. I glanced at them confused and looked back at my brother before looking down at Vinny's body. I shook my head as the body count continued to rise, if this continued for too much longer I wouldn't have a mob to run. I had to try and convince Connor and Murphy to stop this, or at least figure out why they were targeting specific people that just happened to be higher ups, who were they trying to find. Joe finally snapped me out of my deep thoughts by touching my elbow and leading me out of the house again.

"So what's the plan?" Joe asked me and I sighed.

"I have no clue Joe, nobody has gotten close to these guys, how are we supposed to stop this if we can't catch them" I was shaking my head trying to sort through everything. Somehow they had managed to vanish after everything had went down a few years ago, but we still couldn't find them, granted I knew who they were but I didn't know where they were. I was beginning to get so desperate that I was willing to turn them into my mob guys, but I would need to warn them first, for the sake of Melanie at least.

"Well you better get to thinking, these boys are gunnin' for the whole mob, it's just a matter of time before they make it to you, watch your back sis" Joe put a hand on my shoulder as I form of compassion and I nodded my head knowing that I wasn't as safe as everyone thought I was. After we finished at the house Joe dropped off outside my own house and I debated whether or not to go back inside, I opted for not going in and walked around to the back of the house and sat down on the back patio. I looked up into the sky and thought about what to do and I took out my cellphone and dialed Connor's number.

"'Ello?" He answered.

"I got your present this morning and you really shouldn't have" I smirked as I spoke and I heard Connor chuckle to himself.

"I was beginnin' ta tink ya wouldn't get it in time" Connor continued to chuckled and I just rolled my eyes.

"Well I got it, and I'd like to discuss some things about it if you wouldn't mind meeting me somewhere" I said into the phone and the other line went silent for a few seconds than normal, "Connor?" I asked eventually thinking had hung up on me.

"Yea I'm 'ere" He paused again.

"Well what the hell are you thinking about, it's a simple yes or no question" I was getting irritated.

"Listen, I don' know if meetin' would be a good idea" Connor spoke again and I could help but laugh.

"Are you afraid of me now or something, I thought you wanted your gun back?" I questioned.

"I do, but Murph' knows an' so does Melanie, it ain't good for us ta be seen wit each udder" Connor explained and I laughed once again.

"Who fucking cares if they know, it didn't mean anything, you are still the enemy, so fuck them" I was beginning to pace on the back patio as I spoke into the phone.

"Goo'bye Sadie" Connor said and I yelled into the phone for him not to hang up, "What now?" He asked not quite hanging up like he had wanted to.

"Would you just fucking grow a pair and suck it up, where are you at, if you won't come to me I'll go to you" I stopped my pacing and waited for a reply.

"Listen now, I have a fucking pair and you damn well know it, what has gotten you so damn adamant about meeting with me huh?" Connor was getting irritated himself and I couldn't help but smirk to myself.

"You want your gun, I'll give it to you, but we need to talk about Murphy and Melanie knowing and the continuous killing, just tell me where you are" I was growing impatient again, nothing was ever simple and straight to the point with Connor MacManus.

"Damnit, I'll text you the damn address" Connor said and hung up the phone, I smiled in victory and waited for him to text me. When he texted me the address I walked back to the front of the house and got in my car and drove off. I drove down past McGinty's and realized that the place I was going to wasn't all that far from the bar to begin with. When I arrived I parked the car and started to climb the five flights of stairs of the apartment Connor had texted me about. When I arrived at the door that he had told me I knocked lightly on the door. The door suddenly swung open and Connor grabbed my arm and dragged me inside.

"What the hell Connor" I said rubbing my wrist where Connor had grabbed me as he quickly closed the door behind me.

"Well get to talkin' I ain't got all day" Connor stood there glaring at me.

"Well aren't you just in a chipper mood" I laughed as Connor's face was hard as stone.

"Ya said ya wanted to talk, now talk" Connor demanded and I looked around the room searching for a place to sit.

"Calm down, I'll talk" I walked over to the bed on the farthest side of the room and sat down, "Love the place by the way, very retro" I laughed and Connor cleared his throat bringing me back to what I had originally came here for.

"Well as we both know Melanie and Murphy know about our escapade the other night, I didn't let Melanie corner me so she doesn't know any of the details, so what do we do?" I asked looking down and away from Connor's hard stare.

"We do wha' we do best, ignore 'em until day leave it alone" Connor suggested and I finally looked up at him.

"You don't know Melanie, she will never let this go" I explained and Connor clenched his jaw, "What are you so un easy about?" I asked trying to figure out why Connor was so stand-offish.

"Nothin'" Connor glanced at me but didn't let his eyes stop there.

"Connor" I stood up and walked over to him, "Look at me, what's wrong?" I asked and he finally made eye contact with me and I noticed his jaw relax.

"You" Connor spoke and I tilted my head slightly confused by his answer.

"Me, I mean I know we are enemies and all but you don't have anything to worry about" I smirked and he just continued to look at me.

"Sadie, it's not safe for ya ta be 'ere" He said and I looked at him confused.

"I'm not afraid of you, never was so don't give me that shit" I continued to watch him as he was battling with himself mentally.

"You're not afraid of me, well ya should be" Connor shoved me back against the wall that was behind me and glared into my eyes.

"Nothing to fear about you, you're all bark and no bite" I tried to push him away but he just pushed my arms into the wall harder.

"Ya tink killin' people 'asn't made me hard, I can't be cracked an' 'ere ya 're crackin' my 'ard fuckin' exterior" Connor growled and kissed me passionately.

"By the way I forgot your gun" I smirked and this time it was my turn to kiss him, he looked at me surprised after I kissed him and leaned in for another kiss.

"Ah, fuck it" He smirked as he kissed me and I had to admit that I was enjoying the kiss a little more than I thought I would have. I thought that the night we had sex was just a fluke of anger, but as we kissed I figured out that maybe that wasn't the case. We continued to kiss against the wall and finally we pulled away from each other and Connor released me from his grip.

"Well" I said standing there not really knowing what to do or say to him after that unexpected event.

"Yea" Connor was just as razzled and confused as I would so we stood there in the middle of the room just looking at the floor.

"Um, well I was wondering why you chose to kill Vinny, kind of a weak player in it all, I feel like you are looking for someone in the mob, who is it?" I asked trying to get away from the awkward mood that had fallen over the room.

"The boss" Connor replied and walked over to the window and watched the traffic drive down the road. I froze at his answer and it was at that moment that I was actually afraid of Connor, if he knew I was in charge he would no doubt get rid of me without a second thought.

"Why do you want the boss?" I asked trying to figure out just how I could save myself.

"Take out da 'ead of the snake an' you kill da whole ting, just dint work da first time with ya da" Connor explained and turned at looked at me. It was always his job to remind me that he had killed my father and my uncles, it was like he was testing me to see if I was going to stay or not. Even thought I was still furious at him for everything he had done I couldn't seem to pry myself away from him, the anger that I felt for him just drew me to him more, it was a love hate relationship emphasis on the hate.

"I see, do you expect me to just tell you who it is?" I asked and he looked up into my eyes.

"There 're ways of persuasion" He smirked and I laughed to myself.

"Honey you weren't that good" I continued to laugh as Connor raised an eyebrow at me, "Oh don't flatter yourself" I shook my head.

"Well, I don' expect that ya know anyting 'bout it anyway" Connor shrugged.

"About sex or the mob" I laughed and I could see a slight blush forming on his cheeks, "Oh, the mob, yea I'm not involved in that mess can't help you there" I smirked and he just watched me walk towards him, "As for the other subject, I think we both know how skilled I am in that department" I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek before I turned to walk towards the door.

"Where ya goin'?" He asked and I turned to look at him standing there and I hadn't ever realized just how attractive he was, I wanted to smack myself for thinking about it but I was falling for the typical bad boy.

"Wouldn't you like to know" I turned around again and started for the door.

"Actually I already know" Connor was suddenly behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and spun me around in his arms. I couldn't help but smile and Connor looked into my eyes and then bent down to kiss my neck. It wasn't long before we had made our way over to what I suspected was his bed and made ourselves comfortable.

"I like this place, it was just where I wanted to go today" I smirked, "Honestly though you live in a dump" I laughed and Connor punished my comment with a hard kiss and nibble on the lips.

"I dint judge ya 'ouse so ya don't get ta judge mine" He smirked and leaned down to kiss me again. It was nice to be comfortable once again, but the fact that Connor had caused so much destruction in my family was close in the back of my mind. I was determined to enjoy the fun and self destruction while it lasted, because sooner or later Connor would find out just who I was.

**A/N: Wow 19 chapters only one more to 20 and I'm not out of ideas yet. Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter is Holy Fool by: The Boondock Saints. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** and**_ Sissymac_** for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	20. Chapter 20

Cassidy's POV

I stood up and pulled on my underwear as Connor sat on the bed watching my every movement.

"You know I really should be leaving" I searched the floor for my shirt and jeans, but didn't see them anywhere. Suddenly I felt two arms wrap around my waist and Connor pulled me back onto his lap, I laughed to myself as he trailed kisses along my neck.

"I don' tink so" Connor continued to kiss my neck and then turned me around to lay me back on the bed.

"Connor, Melanie's worried 'bout Cassidy 'ave ya seen 'er?" Murphy called opening the door slowly and I squeaked before diving under the blankets and covering my head.

"No ain't 'eard from 'er today" Connor leaned back in bed and looked towards the door.

"Jesus Connor, coulda warned me ya 'ere streakin'" Murphy laughed and I listened to his footfalls as the headed to the bed directly next to Connor's. I knew I wasn't safe for long and I was not looking forward to confronting Murphy about what I was in his brother's bed in my bra and underwear.

"It's my 'ouse, dint tink I needed ta tell ya anyting" I could feel Connor shrug and he moved his hand under the blanket and grabbed onto my hand.

"Who ya got under da blanket?" Murphy's voice changed and I could tell he was smirking at Connor.

"Nobody" Connor tried but Murphy obviously looked at him like he didn't believe him because Connor continued, "My life, my problems" Connor said and squeezed my hand, I couldn't help but smile to myself at the simple gesture.

"Connor who's under der?" I could hear Murphy's shoes come closer to me and I closed my eyes and folded the blanket away from my head and continued to close my eyes, "Jesus Connor!" Murphy hollered and I was afraid to open my eyes.

"Ya said it wasn't anyting, dat ya 'ere jus' doin' it ta torture 'er" Murphy said and I finally opened my eyes and looked at Connor. He glanced down at me and then stood up and pulled on his boxers before pulling Murphy over to the other side of the room to talk to him. I felt sick to my stomach as I continued to lay there in bed, I couldn't believe that I had let him fool me into thinking there was something there. I grabbed the blanket and covered my face again as I tried to disappear from existence.

"Sadie" I felt the bed shift and I held onto the blanket even tighter because I didn't want to see Connor's good for nothing face anymore, "Sadie" Connor called again and I groaned rolling over and burying my face in his pillow. I couldn't help but take a deep breath, my nostrils were filled by the smell of Connor and I tried to continue to be mad at him but it was no use. I felt Connor pull the blanket off me and my back was now exposed. He kissed my shoulder and then the back of my neck and then tugged on my ear with his teeth.

"You bastard" I growled as I turned in the blanket and looked up at him angrily. Before I could continue to say anything to him he attacked my lips and I gave in, what was Connor doing to me?

"Get a room" Murphy called from the other side of the room and laughed to himself, I suddenly felt very embarrassed and pushed Connor away. He fake frowned and I smirked at him before trying to find my clothes again, "Lookin' for dese?" Murphy held up my shirt and jeans and I growled to myself and got out of Connor's bed and strode over to Murphy.

"Thanks" I snatched them out of my hand and smirked as he stared at me, "Oh, come on, Melanie has a better body than me and we both know it, eyes are up here babe" I pointed at my eyes and turned around to put on my clothes.

"Well I should be going, since Melanie is worried, plus she still hasn't attacked me about the first time this all happened" I laughed as I motioned at the room referring to Connor and I.

"I'll walk ya out" Connor started to get up but I glared at him and shook my head.

"Best if you don't torture me anymore" I side glanced at him and the expression on his face changed, but I couldn't quite place what emotion it was portraying. I shook off the bad feelings and walked down the stairs and out of the apartment building.

Melanie's POV

I was sitting in the living room waiting for Cassidy to get back, I had called Joe and he had dropped her off hours ago but she had never come into the house. I was beginning to get worried about her, who knows where she could have gone, I had checked to see if her car was still at the house and sadly it was gone. I suddenly heard the front door click open and I jumped up from my seat and practically ran into the foyer.

"Where have you been?" I asked crossing my arms across my chest and staring Cassidy down.

"What's it to ya?" Cassidy retorted and I rolled my eyes getting tired of her smart remarks.

"You were with Connor weren't you?" I asked and I could tell by the look on her face that I had figured it out.

"Had some things to discuss with him, needed to make it clear to him and to you and Murphy that there is nothing going on between us" Cassidy took a few steps forward and turned to walk into the kitchen.

"Then explain the sex hair" I chased after her and continued to stare her down.

"Had the windows down in my car" Cassidy replied and opened the fridge.

"You have an excuse for everything don't you" I sighed to myself knowing that Cassidy was locked up tight and it wasn't going to be easy to get information from her.

"No excuses" She smirked at me and I knew that I had her.

"Sure, but that smirk on your face tells me otherwise" I took a step towards her and she glanced up at me with pleading eyes.

"Just leave it be please" Cassidy spoke and her voice seemed hurt and scared.

"Cassidy what's wrong, what happened?" I asked as Cassidy went to the table to sit down and drink a glass of water.

"Nothing" She shook her head obviously trying to make herself realize what she was saying.

"Cassidy Morelli" I called sternly and she looked up at me her eyes shiny.

"How can I remotely be attracted to a cold blooded killer, he's a snake, a dirty rotten snake, he's using me, he's searching for me and he doesn't even know it, I'm fighting with fire Melanie and I've already gotten burned" Cassidy spilled her guts and all I could do was sit there and stare at her with wide eyes.

"Well say something already!" Cassidy looked up at me and I shook my head trying to wake myself up from the trance I slipped into.

"Let's take one thing at a time" I said and Cassidy and I started to dive into her thoughts and concerns and I was surprised at how much she was opening up. I could tell that she was really conflicted my everything she was feeling and she was afraid that everything she was falling for was sending her straight into a trap, but I tried my best to tell her otherwise. After we finished our talk Cassidy claimed she was going to go get in the hot tub and I watched her walk up the stairs before I called Murphy and told him to meet me out front. It took him about twenty minutes but he finally arrived and I hugged him as soon as he was close enough.

"Your brother, is he being true in everything he's doing with Cassidy, because if he isn't and she gets hurt, don't think she wont take him out" I warned Murphy and he just scoffed.

"'Ow many time ya been tellin' me she gonna take 'em out and she ain't done shit, I'm beginnin' ta tink she ain't that tough to begin wit" Murphy laughed and stared up at him shocked.

"Cassidy is a strong woman and the fact that you are standing here in front of me telling me otherwise is pathetic" I didn't know where the anger was coming from but I was suddenly furious at Murphy for calling Cassidy weak.

"Calm down, I've gota point and ya can't argue wit dat" Murphy took a step towards me and I jerked my arm away as he reached out.

"Is Connor serious?" I asked again trying to get a straight answer out of my boyfriend, if I could even call him that, we hadn't put any labels on anything.

"'Ow am I supposed to know, men don' necessarily talk 'bout our feelin's" Murphy shrugged not giving me the answer I wanted but he got me thinking about his feelings and whether he would admit them to me.

"So, you don't talk about feelings at all" Murphy shook his head, "So you wouldn't say anything to me about your feelings" At this Murphy froze obviously uncomfortable by my question. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other and continued to search the sky and the ground for some sort of answer.

"Well I like ya" Murphy ran a hand through his hair trying to focus on his shoes.

"Well obviously" I took a step towards him.

"I really like ya" He repeated adding onto it.

"I think we've established that" I said calmly as I took another step towards him and was inches away from his face.

"'Nd ya like me, so we both like each udder" Murphy avoided my gaze as I tried to look into his eyes. I finally got fed up and made him look at me. I stared into his brilliant blue eyes and once again I was lost, I could tell there were things that Murphy wanted to say to me that were so out of his character, but there was something holding him back.

"I like you too Murphy" I smiled and stood up on my tippy toes to kiss him, I had caught him off guard but as soon as he was up to speed he kissed me back. I had forgotten all about finding out more about Connor's plans with Cassidy because I was soon caught in a very tight embrace with Murphy. When we finally pulled apart he placed his forehead against mine and looked down at me.

"Ya got another 'it for us?" Murphy asked and his eyes lit up, I was reminded of the fact that he was a killer and he enjoyed it. There was a part of me that was slightly turned on by that fact but my moral compass soon shut that voice down.

"Yea, after Vinny the next number two is Daniel" I handed him a folded piece of paper and he slipped it into his back pocket.

"Ya givin' me all dese number two's can't ya do a little research and find me da number one?" Murphy asked and my jaw clenched and I just shook my head. I wasn't about to sell out Cassidy especially not when she was having such a tough time with the death of Geoff and now the whole situation with Connor.

"Can't help you there, they don't tell us who the number one is, only reason we knew before was because Cassidy's dad was the boss" I explained and hoped that Murphy was buying my lies.

"Yea" Murphy shrugged, "At least it keeps Connor at bay 'nd keeps ya safe" Murphy brought me into a hug and kissed the top of my head gently.

"Yea" I sighed into his chest as my guilty mind reminded me that I was selling out family.

"Well ya better get back to Cassidy, we'll 'it Daniel tomorrow so don' be alarmed when ya 'ear 'bout it" Murphy warned and gave me one last long goodbye kiss before he walked back down to the bus stop. I turned and walked back into the house and saw that Cassidy was just now coming in from the hot tub.

"Have a nice soak?" I asked and she nodded her head slightly.

"Could have been better" She spoke but it sounded like she was drained, I couldn't blame her after everything that had been going on if she went to bed and didn't wake up for a day. I actually hoped she did that, she needed some peace and quiet and tomorrow she would only be greeted with more death and reminders of Connor.

**A/N: Wow chapter 20 how exciting! Hope you enjoy it, kind of dull I hope the next chapter is better, we shall see! Song for this chapter is Addicted by: Saving Abel. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover _**and **_Sissymac_** for your reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	21. Chapter 21

Cassidy's POV

I startled awake and looked around my room and finally my eyes landed on my clock on my night stand and I was appalled to see that it was two in the afternoon. I knew I probably needed the sleep but after the numerous hours of sleep I had drifted off into a dream that turned into a nightmare. It started off with me in my office at the club I was going through the numbers for the month and seeing how we were doing profit wise. I was sitting there and all of a sudden Connor appeared in the room and without saying a word he stalked towards me and pulled out his gun. He smirked sadistically and without a second thought he moved the gun off to the side and fired one shot. I jumped in my chair and couldn't quite understand what was going on all I could do was look at him with pleading eyes. He looked down at me as I sat in the chair and this time he lined the gun up with my head and pulled the trigger, and that was when I had startle myself awake. Why did every dream I had that involved Connor end with him trying to kill me, I would kill for a dream of us just having sex or something, anything but him constantly killing me. I tried to shake off the feelings that were clouding my mind and tried to push the images of Connor and his gun out of my thoughts. I made my way to my bathroom and started getting ready. After I was dressed and ready I walked down the stairs and straight to the secret mob room because there was supposed to be a meeting at 2:30 and it was now 3 so I was positive that everyone was beginning to get worried.

"Good afternoon gentleman" I called as I walked into the room and took my seat at the head of the table. Everyone murmured their responses and I nodded my head indicating that it was time to go to work.

"So what's on the agenda boss?" Daniel asked getting abnormally close to me, I side glanced at him and looked at him strangely before I focused my attention back on the group and began to speak.

"We need to push the product more, I think it's safe to say we can spread to the Irish neighborhood and I suggest we push into the Russian neighborhood" I had thought about this and I figured that if we offered a good enough deal the Russians couldn't tell us no.

"The Russians?" Several people asked and looked at me concerned.

"They won't be able to refuse our price, don't worry I've talked to a few people there that said it will be fine" I explained and my people didn't seem all that convinced but they didn't press the issue, "I want the drugs pushed through faster than normal, since everyone has been taken out we haven't been on top of our deliveries and our profits are severely damaged" I said and everyone seemed to be mentally noting what they were supposed to do.

"Daniel will give you your direct orders and further information that you will need to know, meanwhile I will be at the club crunching the numbers for the month" I nodded to everyone and turned to leave. As I walked towards the front door I got a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach and I couldn't help but think that this day wasn't going to end on a good note.

Melanie's POV

I returned home from the store to find Cassidy's car gone and the house completely empty, I took out my cell phone as I walked up the stairs and called Cassidy. I heard a sound coming from Cassidy's room and I slowly opened the door to find her phone laying on her bed ringing. I hung up my own phone and grabbed her, as I held her phone I came up with a brilliant plan to find out just what Connor was planning with Cassidy. I went straight to her contacts and found Connor and figured he was the only one she knew so I pressed the call button and listened to it ring.

"Sadie?" Connor answered and my jaw practically hit the floor because I had only known one other person to call Cassidy that name and she had died a long time ago.

"Did she tell you to tall her Sadie?" I asked wanting to get an answer tot his question before I pressed further on the other issue.

"Melanie?" Connor questioned and I smiled to myself, as he sounded exasperated.

"Yea, now answer the question" I demanded and he growled before clearing his throat.

"No" He mumbled.

"No she didn't tell you to call her Sadie, or no you're not going to answer" I pressed further and I could tell he was getting frustrated.

"No, she dint tell me ta call 'er Sadie, I did dat" Connor explained and I nodded to myself wondering just why he had done that in the first place.

"You know her mother used to call her that, no one else was allowed to call her that, it was worse after she died" I sighed remembering my aunt and how much I missed her and all the other family members that the man on the phone had taken away from me, "Does she let you call her that?" I asked just curious about whether Cassidy got mad or accepted the pet name that Connor had chosen for her.

"Mosta time she gets mad, others she don't care, now why did ya call, 'cause I know it wasn't jus' to talk 'bout me callin' Cass Sadie" Now it was my turn to be hesitant about answering the question.

"I would like to meet, I have something to discuss with you" I suggested and Connor laughed.

"Ya sound jus' like Cassidy, she's always wantin' ta talk 'bout tings" He laughed again and I was getting a little frustrated because I was actually being serious.

"So where can we meet?" I asked ignoring his little comment about Cassidy.

"Never said I wanted ta meet" Connor said and I could tell he was confused by my sudden interest in him.

"Well, I have something that you might want back" I said getting up off the bed and walkig over to Cassidy's coat from the other night and tok out Connor's gun.

"I doubt der is anyting ya 'ave dat I would want" He replied and I smirked to myself.

"Do you want your gun back, because I'm holding it in my hands, and I'd be willing to give it back to you behind Cassidy's back if you would just agree to meet with me" Hook, line, sinker.

"Fine, der should be an address in 'er phone, come there, Murph's out so it'll be safe" Connor said and I was shocked at how easily he gave up and agreed to meeting me, obviously he really wanted his gun back.

"This isn't a trap is it?" I asked letting my suspicions get the better of me.

"Ya 'ave tings to talk ta me 'bout, 'nd I'm curious as to what it tis, plus I want my gun back, so no trap" Connor reassured me and I said goodbye and hung up the phone and then searched through Cassidy's texts to find Connor's address. When I found it I walked into the garage and searched for a car I was comfortable with driving and settled on the old mustang.

Connor's POV

I hung up the phone and was still a little confused why Melanie was so adamant about meeting with me, usually it was Cassidy that had things to discuss with me not Melanie. She seemed too timid and shy to really ever be pushy and assertive like Cassidy so the fact that she had the balls to call me and demand that we meet plus she had leverage on top of it all, I could say without a doubt that Cassidy was rubbing off on her. I was still a little rattled by the fact that I had answered the phone thinking that it was Cassidy and said Sadie, it was one of those things that I liked between Cassidy and I that only we knew and argued about. It seemed like everything recently was going back to Cassidy and I had to admit it was annoyingly exciting. I busied myself with things around the apartment waiting for Melanie to show up, I wasn't really sure how things were going to go, but I was glad I was going to get my gun back after Cassidy had forgotten it at her house. Once again I was back on the subject of Cassidy and I was beginning to get frustrated, no woman had ever infiltrated my mind like she had, granted no woman had ever been as thick headed as I was, so it was intriguing to be around her. I heard a faint knocking on the door and my breath caught in my throat, as I knew it was Melanie and I would probably be bombarded by questions. I walked over to the door and opened it and Melanie strode in like she owned the place.

"Come on in" I said sarcastically.

"What are your intentions with Cassidy?" Melanie asked and I was kind of taken back by her question. Obviously Cassidy had told her about what went down yesterday and just because I slept with her a few times, suddenly her father figure is hounding me about my intentions, "Well?" Melanie put a hand on her hip and stared me down. Suddenly I didn't feel very comfortable in my own home she had this stare that made me very uneasy, Melanie was a woman of mystery just like her cousin.

"I'm not sure what ya want me ta tell ya" I shrugged, what was I supposed to tell her, I'm sleeping with your cousin while I'm killing your family, and it's purely physical, thanks good seeing you.

"Are you using her, or is there something more in that pea-sized brain of yours?" Melanie asked, damn now she was insulting me.

"I think you need to spend less time with Cassidy" I laughed.

"Connor" Melanie softened and looked at me, if I was uncomfortable earlier I was highly uncomfortable and was determined to keep what ever was trying to sneak out of my brain to stay in there permanently.

"Melanie, well now dat we know our names" I smirked and she shook her head.

"Just tell me if there is something going on between you and Cassidy" She demanded.

"There's sex" I responded and she glared at me before sighing and taking a step towards me.

"Is that it, or do you feel something for her?" I shook my head to myself not believing that Melanie thought she was going to storm over here and get all these answers from me.

"Ya tink I'd tell ya even if der was?" I answered her question with a question and she just stared at me, "I tink it's time for ya ta leave" I went over to the door and opened it indicating for her to leave.

"If you hurt her, don't think she won't take you down, family is one thing, but her heart is in a whole different category" Melanie warned and slapped my gun in my hand, I nodded to her before she left and finally I was alone again to wallow in my own thoughts.

Murphy's POV

I was headed back to the apartment with my head down watching my feet as I walked when I suddenly ran into someone, when I looked up I was shocked to see that I was Melanie.

"What ya doin' out in dis area?" I asked confused as to why she would be in the Irish neighborhood alone.

"Searching for answers that you wouldn't give me last night" She responded and tried to push past me but I grabbed her arm and stopped her form walking any further.

"Ya went ta talk ta Connor?" I asked and she looked down ashamed before glancing back up at me and nodding, "Melanie, ya should 'ave believed me when I told ya dat he dint say anytin'" I was getting frustrated that Melanie wouldn't trust me and went behind my back to talk to my brother, "Does Cassidy know you did this?" I asked and once again Melanie looked down indicating that she didn't know.

"Cassidy isn't my keeper and neither are you, I'm a grown ass woman and I can do whatever the hell I want to when I want to" Melanie was getting frustrated now and I could tell there was something else bothering her besides the small agreement that originally started our discussion.

"I know ya 're able ta take care of ya self, but Connor is a different story" I explained and she just continued to get more angry. After a long rant from her she stormed off with me standing there completely confused, what had gotten into her.

Cassidy's POV

I was sitting in the office of the club punching some numbers into the calculator as I hummed a familiar song to myself. I had been there for a good 5 or so hours, it was no dark outside and I was still having difficulty coming up with final figures for the month. I finally decided to take a break and turned my chair to face away from the door and got my IPod out of my purse and searched for the granola bar I had placed in there earlier. I heard one of the doors outside the office open and I spun my chair around curious as to who it was, but when I turned around I saw Connor standing there dressed in jeans, a black shirt and his black pea-coat. The one thing that had caught my attention he most was the blood splatter that was still fresh on his face, I was reminded of my dream and I tried not to show my uneasiness as he stood there in the doorway.

**A/N: Yay 21 chapters, I have a major amount of notes and ideas for this story so lots more to come. Hope you enjoy. Song for this chapter, don't even know if anyone cares, shall be I Almost Told You That I Loved You by Papa Roach. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_ **and **_Sissymac _**for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	22. Chapter 22

Cassidy's POV

Connor continued to stand in the doorway and I finally decided to say something to him but he stopped me by opening his own mouth.

"Daniel's dead" He stated and I looked him up and down as I continued to sit glued to my chair, I was terrified of the look on his face and the strange sound in his voice.

"I got the call, I know" I said and kept my eyes focused on Connor, I was tempted to pull my cell phone out and dial someone so they could hear this conversation, but I figured that was a sure way to get killed at the moment.

"I shot 'em, in da head, forced 'em onto 'is knees 'nd shot 'em through 'is 'ead 'nd out 'is eyes" Connor spoke and he almost sounded robotic I suddenly felt the need to go to him and comfort him, touch him, something to get him out of this strange and dark mood that he had slipped into.

"Yes, that's how you normally do it" I said slowly and calmly trying not to provoke him to possibly kill again. I was shaking at this point, this was the same room that my father had died in and I was so afraid that Connor had figured out who I was and had decided to take me out on his own. He continued to stand in the doorway and stare at me, when I looked into his eyes it was like falling into a black hole, the blue that was normally present in them was consumed by this darkness that had taken over his mind as well. I was about to get up out of my chair when Connor took a step into the room and took his gun out of his jacket, I stopped in my tracks and froze praying that my dream was not coming true. My dream had been so real last night that I was certain it had happened in real life, but perhaps I was mistaken and it was a premonition and this was how it was really going to end for me. I stared at the blood spatter that was still very prominent on Connor's face and my breath caught in my throat as I almost forgot that I needed to breath in order to survive, why was he here? He took another step towards me and inspected his gun before setting it down on my desk, looking down at his gun I was suddenly taken back to the first night I had met Connor MacManus. I was so close that night to losing my life, but something had stopped him from killing me, maybe I could find what it was and it could safe my life again tonight.

"Connor" I spoke softly and he looked up at me from the chair he was now sitting in across from me, "Is everything ok?" I asked making note of the smeared blood that was on his hands.

"Make sure to tell ya cousin thanks for da gun back for me" Connor smirked, but I could tell that it wasn't genuine or real he was trying to cover up what was really going on behind his eyes. I ignored the fact that Melanie had somehow given Connor his gun back and focused on the real threat at hand.

"Connor, look at me" I continued to speak in a soft tone not wanting to raise my voice or cause him to get angry. He hesitated but he finally looked up and met my gaze, "Tell me what's going on, why are you acting like this?" I asked beginning to worry.

"It's a job that has to be done" Connor responded and once again he was lost and I didn't know how to get him back.

"Connor" I called and he just stared at his gun, "Connor, sweetie" I tried something different and he immediately looked up at me but instead of the pleasant reaction I was looking for he looked extremely pissed off. I slowly got out of my chair and walked over to him as he watched my every move.

"Connor, tell me what's bothering you" I leaned down and looked him in the eyes and I wanted so badly to see the blue in his eyes but all I saw was darkness. So I decided to do the one thing I thought would snap him out of his trance, I reached up and touched his jaw before planting a soft kiss on his lips. The reaction I got was not what I was expecting, there was a quick movement and suddenly my face was on fire, when I looked up at the doorway Connor was already storming out with his gun in hand. I kneeled on the floor completely confused as to what happened and placed a hand on my cheek, I couldn't believe he had hit me. After I regained my thoughts I stood up and went back over to my desk so I could finish the numbers. As soon as I finished I rushed home because there was someone I needed to talk to about the fact that Connor now had his gun.

I made it home and immediately threw my car in park and stormed up to the house, threw open the door, and ran up the stairs. I stood in front of Melanie's door and contemplated whether or not to knock or just barge in, I opted for knocking.

"Come in" She called and I flung the door open and stood there steaming.

"How the hell could you do that?" I asked and she looked at me confused not understanding what I was talking about.

"Do what, Cassidy why is your cheek red?" She asked trying to avoid my own question.

"Never mind that, how could you go and give Connor his gun, that was my only fucking leverage against him, now he can do whatever he wants to us!" I was yelling at this point getting really frustrated at Melanie, but also at myself for letting Connor get so close to me.

"I thought you wouldn't mind if your boyfriend had his gun back" Melanie shrugged and went back to what she was doing.

"He's not my fucking boyfriend, he's not even a friend, and you need to get that through your head, now we have some serious shit coming our way and now he's fully armed again" I scoffed and then stormed out of her room and into my own where I stayed for the rest of the night not emerging for anything

Three Days Later

I hadn't spoken to Melanie in the past three days and I knew she had gotten the point that I was not happy that she had gone behind my back and talked to Connor, plus given him his gun back. I was stuck in meetings all day with the mob and my mind never stayed in one place, it skipped around to all the things I would rather be doing than sitting here walking about drug trafficking.

"Cassidy what do you think?" Andrew, the next number two, asked.

"Think about what?" I asked finally snapping back to reality.

"Cosmo said that the product is moving perfectly through the Irish neighborhood, but the Russians are giving us a little trouble" Andrew explained and I shrugged my shoulders trying to think of what to tell them.

"Push harder, and offer better prices, make them an offer they can't refuse, that's all I can say" They all stared at me and I tilted my head not understanding their concerns, "We are Italian, Russians don't scare us, now move the product or else" I warned and they all made quick notes as I drifted off into another day dream. I was now focused on the fact that in the past three days there had been no activity from the Saints and not a word from Connor since he had come into the club that night, I was beginning to fear that something bad was to come or something bad had happened to them, either way it couldn't be good. After the meetings were finally finished I decided that I should probably go and apologize to Melanie about yelling at her and not talking to her, so I trudged up the stairs and stopped when I noticed her door was open and I could hear her talking.

"Murphy, this is the last one, I can't keep doing this, Cassidy will find out eventually and it's not right to keep doing this" She paused obviously listening to Murphy speak on the other end.

"Yea, well don't get your hopes up" She laughed and I could hear her rattling a piece of paper, "His name is Andrew, he will be at the bar down on 45th usually stays there most of the night" Melanie explained and she paused again to let Murphy speak.

"Ok, talk to you later, stay safe, I-" She cut herself off and didn't try to fix what she was about to say.

"Bye" She said again and I heard her hang up the phone. Now I understood why there was so much less activity from the Saints they were waiting on their little informant to tell them who to take out next. This was my chance to storm in and give her a piece of my mind.

"So how's Murphy, I hear you two are hitting it off just wonderfully, really close, share everything, including the names of my mob" I came into her room and walked over to her and ripped the piece of paper out of her hands and ripped it into tiny pieces, "Just whose side are you on Melanie, because you can't have the best of both worlds, you're either with me or with them" I questioned and she looked at me shocked.

"Cass" She started but I shook my head not allowing her to finish speaking.

"No, you don't get a voice in this, you are selling out your family, my family, for your lover, you've made your decision, you chose them" I spat the last word and I was trying to control my temper, but I was hurt by what Melanie was doing.

"I'm doing it to protect you!" She finally yelled getting my attention, "To protect us, they want you, so I'm giving them the number two's to keep them busy, can't you see that I am choosing both sides and it works" She explained but I was still too conflicted about everything that I had heard.

"We will talk about this later, I need some space" I shook my head, and to think I had gone up there to apologize to her and once again we started fighting, the MacManus twins were taking their toll on Melanie and I and I just prayed that it didn't ruin out friendship forever. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Connor's number, I had to try and stop him from taking out anymore of my people, but when his phone went to voicemail I groaned. I grabbed my keys and walked out of the house and got in my car, if he wouldn't answer the phone then I would just pay him a special visit. I parked my car down by McGinty's and started my walk towards the MacManus apartment. When I arrived at the front door I knocked and was surprised when Murphy answered the door.

"Where's Connor?" I asked irritated, Murphy just looked at me confused and stepped aside so I could see Connor laying in bed.

"Sadie, what 're ya doin' 'ere?" Connor asked sitting up and I just glared at him,

"Quit calling me Sadie, you don't deserve it" I growled and he pushed himself up off his bed and stood in front of me.

"Why da changea 'eart?" He asked getting close to me but I took a step back and shook my head.

"After last night you have to ask me why changed my mind on all of this, and on top of it all Melanie is your informant, did you really think I wasn't going to find out" I looked away from Connor and focused my attention on Murphy. He quickly looked down and when I focused back on Connor he was looking at his brother with a confused look on his face, "Oh, so you didn't know either, well it looks like our relatives have decided to band together and take matters into their own hands" I looked at Connor and he slowly walked over to his brother.

"Is dat true Murph'?" Connor asked and Murphy shook his head confirming what I had just said.

"I caught Melanie on the phone earlier, how many has she told you hmmmm, all of them, did she tell you to kill my father too?" I asked getting a little carried away, letting everything that was bothering me at that moment to combine into one heated moment of rage.

"Only Vinny, Daniel, and Andrew, dat's all" Murphy replied.

"Liar!" I yelled and lunged for Murphy but Connor caught me and kept me at bay as I kicked and screamed wanting to take out my frustration on someone.

"Murph' get out of 'ere, Cassidy and I have some tings ta talk 'bout" Connor said tossing his head back signaling for his brother to leave.

"We don't have anything to talk about" I shoved Connor away but he just held onto me tighter and embraced me in a hug as I tried to punch his chest so he would let me go. Eventually I stopped and let him hold me just long enough for him to relax his muscles and then I pushed him away from me and stormed to the other side of the room. I paced in small circles trying to calm down but it was really no use.

"Sadie, now calm down, what 'as gotten inta ya?" Connor asked looking at me confused.

"What's gotten into me, what the hell got into you last night, you came to the club and your covered in blood, scaring the shit out of me with whatever was trapped in your eyes, and now you seem to forget all of that" I started off and he looked down when I mentioned everything from last night.

"I'm sorry 'bout dat" Connor stated and continued to stare at his feet.

"Sorry doesn't cut it Connor, you toy with peoples emotions, you use people, you torture people, and you don't care how much it hurts anyone, just as long as you or your brother aren't affected!" I was yelling at this point as all my thoughts bubbled to the surface and poured out of my mouth. I noticed when I had said the word torture Connor looked up at me and had a slightly pained expression on his face.

"Sadie" He began.

"Call me Sadie one more time Connor and see what fucking happens!" At this point I was screaming and crying I was so angry.

"Why 're ya cryin'?" Connor suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

"Because of you" I began, "Because you act like this cool and nice guy, but underneath of it all you are a killer, not just a physical killer, a killer of dream and hopes, a killer of spirits, I should have killed you that night we slept together, because then I wouldn't be trapped in this situation, and be forced to think about you, when you used me, like a rag doll!" I continued to yell and Connor looked up at me and shook his head.

"Torture, is this 'bout what Murhp' said de odder day?" He asked and I didn't make eye contact with him and obviously that was enough for him, "Sa- Cassidy, I told 'em dat 'cause it's none of 'is business what I do wit ya, we 'ave a physical relationship, but 'e don't need ta know dat" Connor took a step towards me and I took a step back at the same time. I was determined not to let him trap me like he had before, I may be the visiting team, but I'm still able to knock one out of the park.

**A/N: So here it is, didn't think I was going to get one out today, but I cranked it out and here it is, the idea for this was actually a lot longer, but I don't wanna make the chapters too long, so it will carry over to the next one. Hope you enjoy! Don't have time for a song, off to class next one will have one. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for your reviews, very much appreciated. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	23. Chapter 23

Melanie's POV

I had followed Cassidy to the bar and parked my car where she wouldn't see it and followed behind her at a safe distance. I was really confused as to why she was headed in the direction of Connor and Murphy's apartment after the argument we had previously. She stopped and turned around to see if anyone was following her and I quickly ducked into the alley next to the building, when I emerged I saw that she was gone and I decided to wait a few minutes before following after her. I was kicking around a rock on the ground when I decided it was probably safe for me to go upstairs. I opened the door to the building and started to jog up the stairs only looking down at my feet so that I didn't trip, suddenly I was almost knocked backwards by a force coming the opposite direction.

"Mel?" I looked up and stared into Murphy's eyes as I balanced myself and caught my breath.

"Where ya going?" I asked trying to play it off as if I was in the neighborhood and was just going to stop by.

"Out" Murphy didn't explain any further.

"Oh" I sighed and then started to walk up the next few stairs until Murphy grabbed my hand.

"If' you're 'ere ta see Cassidy, ya do not want ta go in der" Murphy warned and I looked at him shocked and confused.

"Why?" I questioned not knowing if I wanted to know the answer.

"Connor and 'er are really gettin' into it" Murphy shook his head, "She 'bout took me out" He laughed and I looked down at him angry at my cousin for threatening him in the slightest.

"He better not hurt her" I looked up at the next flight of stairs wishing I could be there to protect her, even though we were fighting I still loved her, she was family.

"He won't I tink he's been 'idin' something from both of us" Murphy shook his head trying to reassure me that his brother wouldn't harm my cousin. I nodded at his response and the started walking back down the stairs, he caught up to me and stopped me, "Let's go to McGinty's 'ave a few drinks, talk" Murphy said and I clenched my teeth. I was terrified of saying something that I would regret under the influence of alcohol and his charms, but I nodded and followed him out and down the sidewalk. We walked in an Doc greeted us with two free beers and we took them and sat at the table that all four of us had been at on that one night.

"So what do you want to talk about?" I asked curious as to why Murphy hadn't let me just go home.

"Well, I felt like we needed ta talk 'bout what 'appened the other night" Murphy began and I looked down at my bottle beer.

"What about it?" I asked not excited about talking about that particular night.

"What got into ya, ya weren't actin' like yaself" Murphy pointed out and I just focused even harder on my bottle, "Melanie" He called and I was forced to look at him.

"Things have just been difficult with Cassidy and helping you guys and keeping the peace, I guess the pressure just got to me" I lied not telling him the whole truth. I was hurt that we had been together for at least three weeks and he hadn't said anything close to I love you besides 'I like ya', I realized that we really hadn't been together for that long, but I also felt like we were so close that it should have been said already.

"What 'appened with Cassidy?" Murphy asked, "She was sure in a mood when she got to da apartment" Murphy laughed.

"She found out about me helping you guys and earlier we got into it about me giving Connor his gun back without her permission and it's just seemed like we have been getting in one fight after another and she didn't talk to me for three days, Murphy, those were the longest three days of my life" I sighed glad to finally get some of this off my chest. I glared at the beer in front of me hoping that with it's help I didn't let slip other things that were on my mind.

"Well I'm sorry dat all of dat 'appened, did you try 'nd explain everyting to 'er?" He asked and I nodded in response not feeling that a verbal answer was needed.

"I think she just needs some time, she's been having difficulty with the whole Connor situation and I understand, but it's just hard handling everything with her and then everything with you" I said and I regretted it before I looked up and saw the concerned look on Murphy's face.

"Wit me?" Murphy questioned, "We 'ave problems?" He tilted his head confused.

"No, that's not what I meant, I just meant that" I trailed off not wanting to finish my thought.

"Meant what Melanie?" Murphy sounded stern and I focused on him as I was suddenly reminded that he was dangerous.

"I just meant that sometimes I have difficulty with us, it's stupid little things that shouldn't bother me but it happens" I confessed and Murphy relaxed slightly.

"Like?" He pressed on and I rolled my eyes at my beer for making me slip up.

"You liking me" I stated and Murphy actually laughed.

"I thought dat was a good ting" I looked up and couldn't help but smile at his smile, when he smiled it lit up his eyes and I was lost for a second and nothing else mattered but him and I.

"It is" I sighed.

"But" He pressed further.

"I feel like we are past liking each other" I confessed, but I could tell that Murphy had gotten the wrong idea.

"You don't like me anymore?" He asked and this time it was my turn to laugh.

"Of course I like you, it's just that, I think I may, possibly, love you" I kept my eyes focused on my hands as I waited for some sort of reply, I was terrified that Murphy would run out of the bar and never talk to me again. But when I finally mustered the courage to look up at him he was still sitting there and he had a shocked but happy expression on his face.

"Well, I'm flattered" Murphy paused and I could tell he was searching for something to say next.

"You don't have to say it back, the fact that you are still here and didn't run for California, means a lot to me" I smiled and went to the other side of the table to sit next to him. I settled into my seat and leaned over to his him on the lips, I was quite surprised when Murphy started to kiss me back urgently and almost in a panic.

"I tink maybe it's time ta go" Murphy grabbed my hand and pulled me into him for one more kiss before he led me out the back door and down the alleyway.

"Where are we going?" I asked in between kisses and we walked down the alley taking breaks to have mini make-out sessions.

"Our place" He mumbled into my lips and I couldn't help but smile. We made it to the back door of the Hotel Motel and Murphy flung the door open and dragged me in before the door could close.

"Stay 'ere" He commanded and I did as I was told as he ran down the hallway to the front desk to get a key. When he returned he showed me the key but I immediately frowned.

"Can we have a different room, Connor and Cassidy did it in that room, it would feel weird now that I know" Murphy nodded in agreement and ran back down the hall and asked for another key. He ran back to me and attacked me with an unexpected kiss before sticking the key into room 19 and pulling me in as I laughed. We had picked up on our kissing as soon as the door was closed and we progressively made our way over to the bed shedding our clothing with every step. It was nice to have a way to relax and clear my head, I had finally gotten out that I loved Murphy and he hadn't ran away and here I was, about to make love to the man that I so happened to love. I giggled as Murphy gently kissed me onto the bed and crawled on top of me, he then trailed kisses down my jaw line and down my neck to my collar bone where he continued to kiss as he tried to unhook my bra. After he had achieved his goal of getting my bra off he moved back up to my lips and then leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"I love ya too" I gasped at his words as he positioned himself inside of me, it was all so serene I couldn't believe he had said it back, I wanted to squeal like a little girl but I was so lost in the euphoria that was his body that I suppressed the urge and leaned into his every movement.

Cassidy's POV

"Physical relationship huh, does that include hitting me like you did last night" I yelled at him and he looked down at his feet, "Nothing to say, that's what I thought" I groaned and started for the door, but Connor grabbed onto my arm and stopped me from walking any further.

"Cassidy, I dint mean it" Connor looked into my eyes and I could tell by the dark blue that was reflecting back at me that he was being sincere.

"You may not have meant it, but it happened, and you can't change that" I rubbed a hand over the cheek that he had hit and looked away from him still hurt by the fact that he would actually hurt me. I knew we were enemies, but I always figured we were all talk and no action, but the night before I was so afraid that he was a take action kind of guy.

"Listen, I can explain" Connor began but I stopped him.

"Don't, just riddle me this, you save me from scum that was Alex when he was trying to get with me, then you sleep with me when I'm actually pissed at you, you tell your brother I'm nothing but a fuck buddy, then you slap me because I kissed you trying to get you out of the dark hole you had fallen into, how does that all go together?" I questioned, but Connor just continued to stand there and look extremely guilty. I was getting tired of the flip flopping moods that Connor seemed to be experiencing and I wanted to leave before things got any worse. I went to take another step but Connor's grip around my arm tightened and I turned to look at him angrily.

"Connor, I'm tired of all these riddles and secrets and the tension between us" I sighed knowing that this would all have to end.

"Sexual tension" Connor smirked as he took a step towards me, at that moment and I wanted to smack him across the face, but I also wanted to kiss him and let him take me again without another thought. I stood my ground and didn't move as I looked him straight in the eyes and spoke.

"Do you feel something for me, like really feel something for me" I looked down and continued, "Because I think I feel something for you despite everything you've done to me" I focused on his feet as I waited for some sort of response. I shook my head when I heard nothing and pulled my arm away from Connor's grasp, "Nice knowin' ya" I said as I headed for the door. As I opened the door Connor came up behind me and closed the door and leaned into me forcing me to put my back against the door, I held my breath not knowing what was going to happen next, but I was surprised when Connor leaned down and kissed my lips and then my jaw line and stopped so he could whisper something in my ear.

**A/N: So here is 23, took me a little longer to finish that I had expected, also it's a little shorter than some of the previous chapters, but I wanted that cliffhanger! Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter is Say You'll Haunt Me by Stone Sour. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover _**and **_Sissymac_** for your reviews, love them! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	24. Chapter 24

Cassidy's POV

"What would ya say if I told ya I felt somting too" Connor whispered in my ear and my eyes widened. I had taken a big leap of faith even saying anything to Connor about the feelings that I had been pushing away, but I hadn't thought he would actually feel anything for me. We both stood there not knowing what to do next, we were hesitant about the whole thing and I was still in shock that Connor actually had feelings for me. I knew it wasn't just a physical relationship, but I never thought it would be a legit relationship. We both looked into each others eyes and I didn't know what to do, finally Connor leaned in and kissed me and I knew where it was headed from there. There was an urgency in the kiss that I felt down to my toes and I could tell that this was real, even though we were two hard and strong people we complimented each other in just the right way to soften our hard exteriors. I smirked into the kiss as Connor stumbled backwards towards his bed, as we neared his bed he accidentally tripped backwards and landed on his bed with me on top of him and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. He leaned up slightly and looked at me and I smiled feeling the best I had felt since the first time I encountered him. He smiled a genuine smile and I sighed to myself thinking that this couldn't possibly be happening let alone be true, but when Connor reached for my chin and brought my lips down to his I knew that everything I was experiencing was real, and I had finally found someone similar to myself that treated me well. We continued to kiss as we laid in his bed, it was so much more gentle compared to the first time we had made love and it was just as enjoyable, although I loved the bad boy and hardness that was normally Connor I enjoyed seeing the softer side of him and how he caressed my body softly.

Connor's POV

I was trying to fight the sleep that was slowly coming over me as I watched Cassidy sleep, I wanted to make sure she stayed the night and didn't sneak out like the last time, but I eventually lost my battle with the sandman and sleep consumed me.

Next Morning

I awoke the next morning and shifted slightly in bed but when I heard an unfamiliar feminine groan I froze and looked next to me to see that Cassidy was just waking up as well and her eyes found mine right away.

"Mornin'" I smiled and she smiled as well before saying good morning as well, "I 'ave ta admit I'm surprised ya still 'ere" I looked at Cassidy and she fidgeted with her hands before she smacked me playfully, "Ow" I pretended to be hurt and rubbed my arm.

"Oh shut up, you're a big boy" She smirked but snuggled in closer to me and heaved a very audible sigh.

"Oh Lord, what now?" I asked not knowing if I wanted to get into a big discussion this early in the morning.

"I'm just curious" She started off and I figured with was not going to be a very fun conversation, "What was up with you when you came into my office the other night, why did you come to see me?" She asked and I used my arms to push me up so I was sitting up on bed. She continued to lay in her back and looked at me with her head upside down.

"I felt dat I needed to see ya, I felt like I needed ta tell ya dat we 'ad taken out another person dat may 'ave been related to ya" I explained and she finally turned onto her stomach and rested her head on her hands.

"Why?" She pressed further.

"I don' know, does der 'ave ta be a reason" I groaned not wanting to get into this at the moment.

"There is a reason for everything Connor, there's a reason I'm here with you and not somewhere else, and there's a reason you came to see me that night" She slowly inched forward until she was in front of my face and planted a soft yet deep kiss on my lips. When she pulled away she immediately left me wanting more, but I knew I needed to hold my ground and not give into her every time she looked at me the right way. I groaned to myself and she looked at me confused, "Connor" She whined and batted her eyelashes at me, I could tell she was a master at manipulating men, but her tricks wouldn't work on me.

"Cass, I don' wanna talk 'bout it" I said sternly and got out of bed and walked over to the window to try and get my mind off of things.

"Fine then" Cassidy said and I could tell she was very irritated, when I turned around to face her she was quickly getting dressed.

"Where ya goin'?" I asked and she didn't look up at me as she responded.

"Home" One word, but I didn't like it.

"Stay" I suggested but she looked up at me and smirked a wild grin and shook her head. She pulled up her pants over her underwear and grabbed her things before starting for the door.

"You want ta know why I went ta see ya" I began and she stopped and looked at me, "I went 'cause I felt tings for ya and I felt like ya needed to know what I did, aftering doin' something like dat I needed ta see ya" I confessed keeping my eyes fixed on her, I wasn't going to back down from feelings anymore not when it came to Cassidy, she was hard like me and I needed to show he that, that hardness stretched to my emotions.

"And the slap, did that have to do with your feelings for me?" she asked crossing her arms across her chest. It was awkward talking about feelings when I was standing in the middle of my apartment stark naked and she was dressed heading for the door, but I continued on.

"Defense mechanism" I confessed. She scrunched up her brow and narrowed her eyes at me clearly not getting what I meant, "I'm not good wit feelin's dint like feelin' what I did for ya, so I tried to hide it and fight it by hittin' ya, but I'm real sorry 'bout dat now" At this point I looked down at my feet and realized that I was still naked and tried to find a pair of underwear. As I searched through the sheets on my bed Cassidy came up behind me and kissed my neck before whispering in my ear.

"No need to find them just yet" I smirked and turned around to fully embrace her and wow her with kisses.

Melanie's POV

I woke up and stretched trying to get my limbs fully functioning, I looked over at Murphy and couldn't help but smile at the peacefulness of his sleep. When he suddenly moved I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep, when he started to get out of bed I pretended to be just waking up. He heard me groan and he turned to look at me.

"Mornin'" He called and I smiled loving the sound of his voice and the smile that stretched across his face.

"I love you" My smile got wider and I waited for Murphy to respond.

"Love ya too" Murphy leaned over to me and planted a kiss on my lips. I was in heaven as Murphy stood up and walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. We had come so far since the first time we met, and if you had asked me that night if I would be sleeping with Murphy and having an actual relationship with him I would have laughed in your face. It was true and it was real and we were happy, I smiled to myself as I thought about us and everything that was waiting for us in the future and snuggled into the warm blankets Murphy had left behind.

"'ow'd ya sleep?" Murphy asked opening the bathroom door and walking back into the main room.

"Good, how bout yourself?" I asked sitting up in bed and watching him pull on his boxers before he too sat down on the bed.

"Great" He nodded to himself.

"Good" I smiled and leaned my head back against the head board, "So do you think Connor and Cassidy killed each other last night?" I asked as I started to think about Cassidy going to Connor the night before.

"Who knows wit dem two" Murphy laughed to himself.

"Why did Cassidy even go to Connor, we fought about me giving you information and then she left, I followed her and she went straight to Connor I find that a little odd" I watched Murphy's expression change from happy to hard as stone.

"She confronted 'im 'bout ya bein' an informant for us, accused ya of sellin' out everybody even 'er da" Murphy explained and I was taken back by his words. Cassidy really thought that low of me that I would sell out the only family that cared about me, sure I was selling out some of my family now, but they never accepted me like Geoff and Cassidy's father had.

"She's feisty, dat cousin of yours, I see why Connor gravitated toward 'er, she 'bout took me out yesterday when she got all crazy" Murphy chuckled to himself as I was still hung up on the previous comments.

"I think we should head back to the apartment and make sure they aren't dead" I suggested and Murphy nodded his head before offering his hand to me so I could get out of the bed. We both got dressed and gathered our things before walking out of the hotel room and to the front desk to drop off our key. Murphy offered his hand to me again and I gladly took it as we walked out the front door and headed down the street to the apartment. We finally made it up all the stairs and I waited patiently as Murphy fiddled with his keys and opened the door. As soon as Murphy and I walked in I hollered out in distress.

"Oh god!" I exclaimed at the sight I was seeing, when Cassidy heard me she immediately stopped kissing Connor and tried to hide herself under the blankets as Connor just shrugged and smirked at Murphy and I.

"'Ey Murph'" Connor waved and Murphy just shook his head as he placed his things down on his bed.

"Connor cover yaself up" Murphy mumbled and Connor moved the sheet to cover his manhood, I rubbed my face not believing what I had seen.

"Cassidy" I called and she didn't move, she just continued to hide under the covers and pretend I wasn't there, "Cassidy I already saw you, now come out, you have some explaining to do" I heard he growl as she slowly lowered the blanket and looked at me with a brilliant smile.

"Hey Mel, what brings you here?" She asked pretending we had run into each other in a coffee house or something.

"Hey Cass, what brings you here?" I asked in return, curious to hear her response.

"Listen I can explain, it's not what it looks like" She sat up in bed but held the blanket close to her body so that she wasn't exposed.

"Oh really, because it looks like you and Connor naked in his bed, and from the looks of the scene we walked in on, it looked like you were kissing, but it's not what it looks like right" I pressed on and Cassidy's cheeks turned a very deep shade of pink and I could tell she was completely embarrassed.

"When ya put it dat way, it's exactly what it looks like" Connor smirked and Cassidy smacked him in the arm, and he looked at her and rubbed his arm.

"Listen, you may have been right earlier" Cassidy confessed and I could tell that she was greatly pained by the fact that she had to admit I was right.

"What's that, what did you say?" I laughed as she groaned, "I was right, did you hear that world, Cassidy Morelli admitted she was wrong and I was right" I laughed out loud as Cassidy continued to glare at me.

"Are you done?" She asked annoyed.

"For now" I smiled and she shook her head.

"So it's official, you and Connor?" I asked looking back and forth between the two, they glanced at each other and just shrugged not knowing what to really call what they had going on.

"We like each other" Cassidy shrugged again and Connor just watched her, I could tell by the look in his eyes as he studied her body that he really liked her and cared for her in his weird twisted way.

"Yay!" I squealed cheering that Cassidy and Connor had finally given into their true feelings and had consummated their relationship for real.

"Oh, god, stop, now" Cassidy shouted at me and I smirked at her when I finally stopped. She finally climbed out of bed and turned her back to Murphy and I as she pulled on her bra and underwear and jeans and t-shirt.

"Listen, Mel, I need to apologize for some of the things I said earlier, I know I was a little harsh" She started but I stopped her before she could continue.

"Apology accepted, Cass I know you and I know sometimes you don't mean everything you say, we wouldn't be family if I didn't forgive you" She smiled and we embraced each other in a hug.

"Thanks Mel" Cassidy broke the hug and smiled.

"Well if ya two 're done getting' hot 'nd 'eavy in ya hug, I'd like ta get dressed now" Connor blurted out and started to get up, Cassidy quickly pushed me away and made me turn away as Connor got up and got dressed.

"Well now that, that's over" Cassidy said and I could tell she was glaring at Connor, "I should be going, got some things to tend to back at the house and I really need a shower" She started for the door.

"I tink I can 'elp wit dat" Connor raced after her and she turned and smirked at him.

"You can walk me to my car, so these two can have a little privacy" She looked at me and gave me a wink before grabbing a fist full of Connor's shirt and dragging him out of the apartment. Once again Murphy and I were alone and I smiled at him as he finally focused on me again, even with Connor and Cassidy interrupting our morning with their charades we still had out connection and Murphy slowly walked over to me and planted a soft kiss on my lips that made me smile.

**A/N: Chapter 24, Hope you enjoy! Song for the chapter/story is Better Days by: The Dirges. Thank you **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for your reviews, love you guys for them! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	25. Chapter 25

Cassidy's POV

Connor and I walked down the flights of stairs until we reached to ground floor and walked out of the apartment building and made out way towards my car. There was complete silence between us as we walked, it was really awkward being caught by Melanie and Murphy and it was awkward walking down the sidewalk with Connor without being hostile.

"This is weird isn't it?" I asked not looking at him as wen continued to walk. When Connor didn't respond I looked over at him and he looked down and me and smirked.

"Nothin' weird 'bout da way I feel 'bout ya" Connor said and I looked at him suspiciously, "What?" He asked confused.

"Who are you and what have you done with Connor Macmanus?" I asked looking behind him searching for the real Connor. The man standing in front of me certainly wasn't the same man that had tried to kill me several times and he was not the man that used hate and force when making love to me. Connor stopped walking and frowned at me hurt by my words, this time it was my turn to question him.

"What's wrong now?" I asked and he just shook his head, "Connor" I glared and he began to walk again. I hurried to catch up with him and grabbed onto his arm, "Why do you always do that, you shut me out like I don't mean anything to you" I stepped closer to him and gazed into his deep blue eyes, "We both know that's not true, I mean something to you, and I always have, that's why you didn't kill me that first night" As I spoke Connor's jaw clenched and he seemed very uncomfortable. He suddenly shook his head and took a step back so he could walk around me and continue towards my car. I stood there and didn't say anything to him and let him walk away from me, I wasn't always going to chase after him like a love struck puppy, that just wasn't my personality, after all, this wasn't love. Connor finally realized that I wasn't following him and he turned around and groaned as he walked back to me.

"Come on, I'm supposed ta be walkin' ya to ya car" Connor nodded in the direction of my car.

"Connor, come on now, what happened to the sweet man that was walking me down the street earlier?" I asked and he looked at me with no expression on his face, "Obviously he doesn't exist" I mumbled to myself and pushed past him and started walking towards my car, "Come on, walk me to my car" I called back to him and Connor jogged to catch up with me.

"Now what's got ya panties in a bunch?" Connor stopped me.

"You seriously have to ask that question, you shut down every time I point out that you do something sweet, you don't let me in, and we are supposed to me civilized and try and make this work, but you live in your own world where you only let me visit when its convenient for you" I explained and Connor just listened to me and nodded when he felt it was appropriate.

"I'm not good at dis stuff Cass, I ain't built for relationships, so ya can't expect me to know what ta do all da time" Connor spoke and I understood what he was saying, but it still didn't make any sense why he went from one extreme to the next, but I decided not to press the issue, he was sort of opening up and I didn't want to stop that.

"I'm not either, especially with men like you, but you intrigue me in so many way, that I choose to stay and figure you out, so don't push me away like you've been trying to do, and I'll stop trying to kill you" I laughed and gave him a smile. He slightly smirked and I could tell I was breaking his hard outer shell.

"Deal" He smiled and threw his arm over my shoulder and we continued to walk towards the car again, we finally made it there and he took my hand in his and brought it up to his lips and kissed it lightly.

"What happened to my bad boy huh?" I asked smirking at him and there was a flash of something wild in Connor's eyes and he pushed into me and pressed me up against the side of my car and crashed his lips into mine. I moaned into the sudden and unexpected passionate kiss and Connor smirked into the kiss proud of his effects on me. When he pulled away I was out of breath and found myself leaning towards him wanting more, Connor was a mysterious man that was doing mysterious things to me, and I was loving every minutes of it.

"Ya know we still 'ave ta take Andrew out, gotta continue the search for da boss, it's our job" Connor said and I nodded knowing that Andrew wouldn't be a big loss, but it would get them one step closer to me and finding out that I was the boss.

"I know" I nodded. Connor smirked as I kissed him and said goodbye, I got in my car and looked at him one last time before starting my car and pulling away.

Murphy's POV

Melanie and I were still locked in a tight embrace as we kissed and my hands wandered all over her body, we had grown extremely close over the time we had spent together and the fact that we had taken the relationship the next level last night made our embrace even more intimate. We were highly distracted by each other when Connor came barging back into the apartment and hollered at us.

"Oh, get a room" I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was smirking.

"Shut it Connor" I called back and kissed Melanie a few more times before stepping away from her, it was bad enough we had walked in on Cassidy and him, but I didn't like it the other way around. I liked keeping my family and my relationships separate, I was a shy guy, and when it came to my brother I didn't like him knowing too much about my personal life.

"Jus' payin' it forward brudder" Connor laughed to himself and I growled in response.

"I'll walk ya out to ya car" I told Melanie and she nodded, I walked with her down the stairs and out to her car which was parked on the other side of McGinty's. I kissed her a few more times before she finally got in her car and I watched her pull away and kept an eye on her until she was out of view. I sighed to myself at the sudden loneliness that took over, never had I been this interested in a woman to where I missed her the second she left, Melanie was changing me for the better, I just wasn't sure Connor would feel the same about that. I made it back to the apartment and went to work reorganizing my bed and putting my things back where they were supposed to be, Connor was just finishing up showering when I finally finished and laid down on my bed to relax.

"So Cassidy 'nd ya got real close I see" I called out to Connor and he groaned.

"Oh fuck off Murph'" Connor retorted wrapping his bottom half in a towel.

"Serious, 'ow many times 'ave ya 'ad sex since da first time, I dint know ya 'ad dat kinda stamina" I teased but I had hit a soft spot and Connor glared at me more angrily than normal.

"Ya watch ya mouth" He warned and I laughed to myself.

"What 're ya gonna do Connor fight me 'gain" I shook my head knowing that was always Connor's way of settling something when it came to us.

"Damn right" Connor growled and I decided to let him be, I didn't have the energy to fight with him at the moment, all I wanted to do was relax and enjoy the peace and quiet.

"Since ya got someting ta say 'bout Cass and I, I got someting ta say 'bout Mel and ya" Connor began, so much for peace and quiet, "Ya awful soft on 'er lately, like unusually soft on 'er, you dint do what I tink ya did brudder" Connor pulled on his pants and used the towel that was previously around his waist to dry his blonde hair.

"No, Connor, I dint" I lied and hoped that Connor was buying it, but I could tell by the smirk that was tugging at his lips that he had caught my lie and was about to call me out on it.

"I call bullshit!" Connor shouted, "I call bullshit, ya told 'er dint ya, ah ya dumbass" Connor went on and called me some other names and complained some more but I ignored his complaints and tried to focus on more important things.

"Connor give it a rest" I groaned, but he wasn't done yet.

"Murph' ya can't 'onestly feel dat much for dis girl, she's a rich bitch dat prolly only loves ya for ya accent, dat was a pussy move ta tell 'er dat" Connor continued but I had, had enough when he called Melanie a bitch, that was crossing the line. I jumped out of bed and charged at him and tackled him to the ground, as soon as we hit the ground we both started failing our arms trying to hit one another but all we did was make a lot of noise and roll around on the floor. Finally we gave up and sat on the floor huffing and puffing and glared at each other.

"She ain't a bitch, 'nd I don' care what ya tink, I love 'er so just fuck off Connor and quit houndin' me 'bout it" I shook my head irritated that we always fought over the stupidest things.

"Ok" Connor said and I looked up at him kind of shocked, this had to be the first time that Connor had actually backed down from a fight without pressing the issue further or giving me a hard time about it.

"Ya really gonna just leave it at dat?" I asked and Connor nodded.

"If ya feel day way 'bout 'er der ain't anyting I can do ta change ya mind, all I can do is look out for ya and make sure ya safe, ya watch yaself wit her brudder, she is related to Cassidy" He smirked and stood up and offered his hand to me and helped me up as well. Once we were standing we gave each other our signature nod of understanding and went about out business. I was still shocked that Connor hadn't pressed the issue further, but I was glad that he was understanding about my feelings for Melanie and wasn't going to bug me about it. On the other hand, I hadn't promised to leave him alone about Cassidy so I took my chance.

"So what's goin' on wit Cassidy and ya, obviously not jus' a physical torture relationship like ya told me earlier" Connor stopped what he was doing for a second and then continued, I could tell he wasn't going to be as open about talking as I had been, but it was still my job as brother to give him a hard time, "She's a 'andful isn't she" I implied and Connor finally looked up at me and smirked.

"Dat she is" Just like Connor to make every insult I try to throw at him a positive.

"Nothin' can get ya down Connor, 'ow do ya do it" I shook my head and Connor just laughed to himself.

"Natural talent" I laughed along with him and we went back to what we were doing and silence fell over the apartment and I was finally able to relax and get some rest after the crazy night and morning I had, had.

**A/N: Well this chapter was only a few words over 2,000, but that many nonetheless, more of a focus on Murphy, I feel like I neglect him sometimes. Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter Burnin' Love by: Elvis Presley. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for your reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	26. Chapter 26

Cassidy's POV

I made it home and tried to keep my mind focused on other things besides Connor and everything that had happened the night before and the fact that Melanie and Murphy had walked in on us made it ten times worse. I rushed into the house and up the stairs and left a trail of clothes as I walked towards the shower, I was going to wash away the feelings and move on with my day. I stepped out of the shower and went into my walk in closet and picked out a pair of khaki slacks and a nice teal short sleeved button up shirt, I slipped on my black flats and headed down the stairs where I almost knocked over Melanie as she was coming up the stairs.

"Good you're out of the shower, we need to talk right now!" Melanie grabbed onto my arm and dragged me back up the stairs and into her room. I walked over to the small couch she had in her room and took a seat confused.

"What do we have to talk about now?" I asked not wanting to talk, I wanted to get to work and lose myself in the day.

"You and Connor silly" She hopped onto her bed and looked at me expectantly. I groaned and rolled my eyes not wanting to talk about anything.

"Melanie, there isn't anything to talk about" I complained and she just shook her head.

"No, you don't get to get away that easily" Melanie stared me down and I groaned again.

"What do you want to know?" I asked knowing she wouldn't give it a rest until I told her everything she wanted to know.

"What happened, how did it start, do you love him, was he any good, when you going to see him again?" She rattled off a million questioned and I just shook my head laughing.

"Things happened, can't remember how it started, don't love him, that's for me to know and you to never find out, and I'm not sure when I will see him again, didn't think about that" I explained and she was practically floating in excitement.

"Oh come on what happened?" She asked trying to get information out of me.

"We talked and argued" I said and she frowned and glared at me and I couldn't help but laugh at the look on her face, "After we argued, I finally broke down and asked him if he felt anything for me because I thought I felt something for him, and he answered and then things got nice and hot" I could feel my cheeks getting heated.

"So he said he did?" She asked and I side glanced at her.

"Got hot and heavy, so yes he said he did" I smirked and she squealed like she had that morning.

"I'm so excited for you Cass!" She exclaimed and I shook my head, it was strange that she was more excited about all of this than I was.

"Yea, yea" I continued to shake my head, "Now you spill, usually when you want to talk about me, there is also something you want to say as well" I questioned and Melanie's face turned bright red and she got really excited.

"Murphy said he loved me, well I said it first and he was kind of shy and nervous about it, but then later that night while we were ya know, he said it back!" She rambled on a mile a minute and I found it hard to understand everything that she was saying.

"Wow" I said shocked, I was really surprised that Melanie had said it to Murphy let a lone him saying it back, I was afraid that Mel was getting too deeply involved with Murphy that when it came time to finally get rid of them she wouldn't be able to let go.

"I know right, I can't believe it, I'm in love with Murphy MacManus and he loves me back" Melanie smiled to herself and the fact that she was truly happy made me happy, but there was always the thought that Murphy could do something to hurt her.

"Yea, I can't believe it either" I smiled but it wasn't genuine. Luckily Melanie was too distracted by her excitement to notice. Suddenly my phone rang and I took it out and pressed the answer button, Melanie hopped of her bed and ran over to me to listen in thinking that it was Connor or something.

"Hello?" I answered and one of my informants spoke into the other line.

"We have a lead on the Saints, we need to know if we are to pursue the matter or stop the search" I looked around not making eye contact with Melanie and thought about what my decision was going to be. If I didn't make them pursue the issue then they would not see me as fit to lead the mob anymore, but if I pursue it there is a chance of my people finding the Saints and executing them, and the way Melanie now felt about Murphy I wasn't sure I could hurt her like that.

"Pursue at all costs" I said before I had actually finished my thoughts.

"Yes ma'am" My informant replied and I hung up the phone, when I turned around to look at Melanie she looked extremely pissed off.

"How could you tell them to pursue, what happens when they catch them, do you not care about Connor, do you not care about me" Melanie was starting to get teary eyed and it made me very uncomfortable, I didn't realize that she was going to take this that hard.

"Listen, Mel it's not what you think, I have to make them believe that I'm leadership material, I need you to understand that I do care about you" I looked at her and she shook her head not believing me.

"If you cared about me, you would call off this search and let Murphy and I be happy, and I still cant believe that after you finally gave into Connor you are still gunning for him" Melanie was really disappointed in me, but I needed to make her understand that I was doing this to protect us.

"Melanie they are gunning for me, they are searching the ranks to try and find the boss, they want to kill me, you honestly think that Connor is going to not kill me just because I'm sleeping with him, because I don't think he will hesitate at all" I was saying these things, but I hadn't realized what I was saying until then, I was afraid of what would happen when Connor did find out, because I did believe that he would kill me without a second thought.

"Cass, I don't think he would kill you, you didn't see the way he looked at you, he really cares about you, I could see it in his eyes" Melanie reassured me, but I wasn't about to believe her. I would do what I needed to in order to protect her, and myself even if it meant eliminating Connor and Murphy from the equation.

The Next Day

Melanie's POV

I was wandering around the house not really knowing what to do, Cassidy was busy with mob business so I had no one to hang with so I opted for flipping through the channels on the TV. I had found a very interesting zombie show called The Walking Dead and I was very intrigued by the characters, the cop in the show was climbing under a tank and zombies were trying to get to him, I was practically on the edge of my seat screaming for him to get out of there. Out of no where my phone buzzed to life and started blaring music and I literally jumped off of the couch and had to take a few seconds to catch my breath. After I composed myself I reach down and took my phone off the couch and answered.

"Hello?" I questioned not looking at the caller ID before answering.

"Mel, it's Murphy" Murphy's familiar and soothing voice came of the phone and I was instantly at rest.

"Oh hey Murph' what's up?" I asked and I caught myself twirling my hair around my hand and immediately stopped myself, after all I was a grown woman.

"Jus' wonderin' if ya would want ta go to dinner tanight?" Murphy asked and I had to hide my excitement at the thought of Murphy and I going on an actual date.

"Of course" I smiled so wide my face started to hurt.

"Good, I'll pick ya up 'round 7, bye Mel" Murphy said and hung up the phone before I could say goodbye or even say I loved him again. I was so obsessed with saying it constantly, I wanted him to never forget it, and the fact that he would say it back every time made me never forget that he loved me as well. As soon as I got off the phone I screamed very loud in excitement and was shocked when Cassidy ran into the room with her weapon drawn and looked around ready to kill.

"What's wrong, what happened?" She asked out of breath and I couldn't help but smirk to myself and laugh. She tilted her head and looked at me confused and I told her to put down her weapon.

"Murphy asked me out to dinner, we need to go shopping!" I grabbed onto her arm and dragged her towards the door.

"At least Tivo my show!" She ran back into the living room and recorded the rest of The Walking Dead. I smirked at her and then noticed she still had her gun in her hand.

"Best be leaving that here" I suggested and she nodded and went to lock it in the liquor cabinet instead of the gun safe.

"No one will look there" She smiled and we walked out the door.

We went straight to my favorite store and I practically ran back to the dresses, I wanted something nice and flattering, but also something sexy and flirty. Cassidy groaned to herself as I fluttered around and looked at all the dresses.

"Come on Cass, maybe we can find something for you too, something Connor will love" I pulled on her arm and she reluctantly followed me.

"I'm not shopping for Connor" Cassidy shook her head and I immediately frowned.

"Why not?" I stopped and looked at her, she looked away from me and shrugged.

"Don't see a point" She finally looked at me and I smiled.

"Well then we find something for you to feel great in just for the hell of it, but first a dress for me" This got me a smile from her and she was finally on board for dress shopping. I knew things were weird between Connor and her, but I felt like he would really enjoy seeing Cassidy all dolled. I explained to Cassidy what I wanted and she laughed in my face.

"I don't think they make conservative dresses that are sexy, kind of a contradiction" She shuffled through a rack and finally took out a dress that was a teal/robin's egg shimmery color, "But I think this would look amazing" She handed me the dress and I ran to the dressing room to try it on. It was a tube dress and hugged me in all the right places, I wasn't blessed with big boobs like my cousin, but I still had a full figure and this dress accented everything perfectly. I walked out and showed Cassidy, she beamed when she saw my face.

"This is the dress" Cassidy smiled and stood next to me in the mirror, I was in love with the dress, but I didn't want to get too attached I still wanted to try on a bunch more.

"Pick out more, I wanna try on at least 30, it has to be the best for Murphy, he deserves the best and I want to give it to him" I rambled on and Cassidy rolled her eyes and walked back to the racks of dresses and thumbed through them, "He really is great Cass, he treats me nice, he's super sweet and gentle, great in bed, very sensitive when need be, amazing body, and the accent" I was undressing and dressing as I continued to talk about just how great Murphy was. Cassidy continued to hand me dresses and everything, every time I walked out in a dress it just wasn't the same reaction as the first one and I frowned at all the others.

"I've been talking about Murphy too much haven't I?" I asked and Cassidy laughed.

"No, not at all, I just feel like I slept with him too after everything you've told me" I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks and I got really embarrassed.

"Well let's talk about you and Connor, when are you guys going to go out on a date?" I asked and Cassidy laughed again.

"Connor would never do what Murphy is doing, he's too tough and hard for that" She explained and I thought I heard a bit of disappointment in her voice.

"Are you ok with that?" I asked watching her carefully in the mirror as I modeled the dress.

"Yea, I've never been a girl that wants to be wined and dined all the time" She shrugged.

"Just a skip straight to dessert type of girl right?" I turned and looked at her and a smirk tugged at her lips.

"He has to at least buy me a drink first" She cocked an eyebrow and we both broke out into laughed at her seductive comment. At that moment I knew that the teal dress I tried on was my date dress and we headed for the check out still laughing about Cassidy's comment.

**A/N: So here is 26 this was a fun one to write! Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter is going to be Tickets by: Maroon 5. Thank you **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for your reviews, love seeing what you guys say! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	27. Chapter 27

Connor's POV

I was watching Murphy pull on a nice pair of slacks and button up a deep navy blue shirt, I was utterly shocked that Murphy was getting dressed up to go out with Melanie.

"Well don' ya jus' look all fancy 'nd shit" I teased and Murphy glared over at me and didn't respond, "Did I 'it a soft spot Murph', ya gonna get all pissy 'bout it?" I asked trying to get him to act like his normal self.

"I'm not gonna fight wit ya Connor" Murphy continued not to look at me and I was getting aggravated.

"Wasn't lookin' for a fight, jus' lookin' to 'ave a little fun teasin' ya, dint realize ya went all serious, 'parently high dollar ass 'as changed ya brudder" I laughed to myself, but Murphy turned and finally faced me and he did not look happy.

"Ya take dat back" Murphy pointed at me and I took a step back and acted hurt.

"Ya choosin' 'er over me Murph' I'm shocked" I held a hand over my heart and watched Murphy.

"Take it back" He spoke again and I saw he was being serious.

"Fine, she's just high dollar" I smirked and Murphy frowned, "Ya ever tink 'bout how ya gonna pay for dinner?" I asked and Murphy's frown seemed to get even lower.

"Dint tink 'bout dat" Murphy ran a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his head, poor guy made all these plans and hadn't even thought of the bill.

"I'm sure she won't mind payin' on da first date, but don' 'spect to 'ave a second one" I laughed and Murphy looked up and me with rage in his eyes, and just like every other argument and tease session it ended with fight. When we finally gave up and stopped trying to kill each other I laid on the floor on my back and heaved a loud sigh. Murphy stood up and tried to straighten out his outfit and then headed for the door without saying another word to me. I sat up on the floor and looked at the now empty room, here I was alone at night while my brother went out on a date. I laughed to myself at that thought my brother going on a date, never thought I'd ever say that. My brother and I were hardasses and we never really settled down, all we needed was ourselves, but it seemed like lately all Murphy needed was Melanie and I had to admit I was jealous that my brother wanted to spend more time with her than he did with me. I laid back down on the hard wood floor and stared up at the ceiling trying to think of some things I could do with my night alone, but nothing came to mind. I could sleep, but what's the fun in that, I could go drink, but why do that alone. Murphy was off wining and dining his girl and I was sitting in my apartment moping. Cassidy suddenly popped into my head and I started thinking about whether or not she was ok with not going out or anything. Murphy was obviously putting forth the effort to win over Melanie, and he had without a doubt stolen her heart, Cassidy and I on the other had, we were awkward, our relationship was complicated and I didn't know what to make of it. We come form two different worlds, she's a rich suburbs girl and I'm a poor Irish city boy, it'll never work. I finally took out my cell phone as I continued to lay on the floor and dialed Cassidy's number.

"Hello Connor" She answered obviously looking at the caller ID before hand, she sounded busy and I frowned slightly at the thought that she had better things to do than listen to me.

"Hey Cassidy, ya doin' anyting tonight?" I asked and waited for her to respond, it felt like it took hours for her to respond but finally she cleared her throat and spoke.

"Nope, night is free, why?" She asked and I suddenly forgot why I had called in the first place.

"Ya wanna go get a drink or someting?" I asked and clenched my teeth as I waited for her to turn me down.

"Yea, sure, why not" Cassidy spoke and I was shocked she had actually agreed to go out.

"Meet at McGinty's?" I suggested and she said sure before hanging up the phone. I finally got up off the floor and walked over to my bed and searched for a shirt to wear. I found a long sleeve black shirt and pulled it on over my head and headed out the door to start the walk to McGinty's.

Cassidy's POV

I had hung up the phone after talking with Connor and was really confused that he had asked me to go out for drinks, it seemed so out of character for him and it caught me off guard. I shrugged off the feelings that were making me worry and I walked up the stairs to my room and looked for something better to wear. I pulled out a bar worthy red cocktail dress and pulled it on, zipped up the back and slipped into my black ballerina shoes before padding down the stairs and walking out to my car.

When I arrived at McGinty's Connor was standing outside smoking a cigarette and I parked my car and walked up to him.

"You mind?" I asked reaching for the cigarette in his mouth. He nodded and I took it from his lips and took a drag before blowing the smoke out of my mouth and placing the cigarette back in his mouth. He reached his hand up and took the cigarette out of his mouth himself before he smoke.

"Didn't know you smoked?" Connor looked at me oddly.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me Connor" I smirked and then walked into the bar leaving him to snuff out his cigarette and follow after me. I sat down at the bar an ordered two beers and Doc came over to greet me.

"Cassidy, so nice ta see ya 'gain" He placed the beers on the counter and said they were on the house as I tried to give him money. Connor walked in and came and sat next to me as I handed him one of the beers.

"Connor" Doc nodded to him and I could tell there was a silent conversation going on between them that I was not seeing.

"What was that all about?" I asked and Connor just shook his head.

"Nothin' jus' worried 'bout me dat's all, he's heard all 'bout ya reputation apparently" Connor smirked and turned to look at all the patrons in the bar tonight.

"Yea, well I think if anyone should be worried it's me" I took a drink out of my beer and hopped off my stool to go purchase some songs on the juke box. I could feel Connor's eyes on me as I walked away along with several other men's eyes on me as well. I took my time at the juke box trying to clear my mind of all the thoughts that were racing through them, after I chose my songs I slowly walked back over to Connor and sat down.

"I like dat dress" Connor said and he wrinkled up his nose at his own comment.

"You don't have to, I realize it's not you" I focused back on my beer feeling that this whole night was going to be awkward. As Connor and I sat there drinking out beers a man walked up next to me and squeezed up to the counter and tried to get Doc's attention. I smiled up at the man and as he waited he decided to make small talk with me.

"Hi, name's Kyle, you're awful beautiful to be in a bar like this" I smiled and looked at him.

"Cassidy, and how would you know sir, you look like ya never been in one before" I laughed and whistled through my fingers to get Docs attention, "What ya want?" I asked.

"Three Coronas" He said and I wrinkled up my nose.

"You need to drink some real beer, three bud selects Doc" I ordered and took the money from Kyle and handed it to Doc. When he handed me the beers I turned back to Kyle and handed him his drinks.

"Thanks" He smiled.

"No problem Kyle" I smiled back and gave him one of my best flirty eye looks.

"Maybe I'll talk to ya again soon" Kyle nodded as his goodbye and walked away to his table. I turned back to Connor and he was glaring in the direction Kyle had gone. I shook my head and ignored it and took another drink of my beer, I glanced at Connor and he was practically chugging his beer and set his bottle down and asked Doc for another one.

"You sure are throwing those back" I laughed and he just glanced in my direction and went back to drinking, "Connor what's wrong?" I asked and he seemed to just be ignoring me and I was getting irritated, after all he was the one that asked me to go have drinks, didn't realize it would be me watching him have drinks.

"Connor, if you don't look at me or speak or something then I'm leaving" I threatened and Connor finally made eye contact with me and I saw his eyes flash with sadness but then they went back to dark in frustration. I could see he was no longer looking at me but looking past me at something, when I turned to look I saw Kyle talking with his friends at their table and I rolled my eyes and groaned.

"Are you jealous?" I laughed and Connor just silently went back to drinking his beer and I went back to staring at the multiple bottles of liquor behind the counter to keep my mind off the fact that this night was going terribly bad.

Melanie's POV

I followed Murphy into a really nice restaurant that I surprisingly hadn't been to before and I was amazed at how beautiful the place was.

"Wow Murphy, this place is amazing" I looked around as Murphy walked up to the hostess and told her his last name. She quickly glanced down and checked the registry and then grabbed two menus before walking us to a table secluded in the back. It was all really romantic and I was surprised, I didn't think that Murphy had this in him, he was always kind of tough on the outside, but I think that had a lot to do with the way his brother acted. Once we sat down I felt like I needed to tell Murphy just how good he looked tonight.

"You look very handsome tonight Murphy" I smiled and could feel the heat rise to my cheeks.

"Thanks, ya look amazin' tanight, probably a better word, but I'm not good wit dat" He smiled nervously and I could feel my cheeks getting hotter.

"So you like my dress, I picked it out just for tonight" I got all excited that he actually liked it.

"Of course, ya look nice in everyting ya wear" Murphy smiled, but he still seemed very nervous.

"I'm really glad we finally got to do this, now that we came out to everyone we actually get to have some normal couple things" I smiled and opened up the menu to start looking at what to eat. Murphy was fiddling with the edge of his menu as he hid his face in the pages.

"Murphy, is everything ok?" I asked concerned that he was acting so weird.

"Yea, everyting is fine" He looked over his menu and tried to reassure me, but I didn't believe him. I looked at him harder trying to get him to tell me just what was bothering him and finally he sighed and began to talk.

"This place is nice, expensive, but nice, I'm not the richest person in the world" Murphy looked down and I accidentally laughed and he glanced up at me very confused.

"Murphy, I don't like you for your money, I like you for your personality and your kindness and well you, money shouldn't mean anything to either of us as long as we have each other" I smiled and Murphy finally started to relax.

"I'm sorry" He said and I reached over and grabbed his hand.

"you have nothing to be sorry about, I will pay, I have the money and it doesn't mean anything, I love you no matter what" I smiled and squeezed his hand slightly and he finally made eye contact with me and smiled. I found it almost comical that he was that nervous about not having money and everything, men worry about the strangest things. I focused back on the menu and searched for something good to eat, I would make this night the best one ever.

**A/N: Yay 27 getting closer and closer to 30 chapters, who doesn't ever want this to end? ME! Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter will be Gettin' You Home by: Chris Young. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover _**and **_Sissymac _**for reviews, love them! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	28. Chapter 28

Connor's POV

I was sitting at the bar next to Cassidy still letting the silence blanket out night. I was pissed and uncomfortable by the fact that this guy Kyle came over and was clearly hitting on her and she just egged it on by flirting back. It was necessarily my place to be jealous or tell her what to do, but I was feeling weird by the whole situation. I downed half of my beer and continued to listen the to low hum of the rest of the bar. My concentration and lack of noise was son interrupted by Cassidy turning to me and speaking.

"What the hell is your problem Connor?" She demanded and I was caught of guard by her question. I growled low in my throat and continued to not focus on her, "What a great first date" She mumbled but I heard her loud and clear and I immediately felt terrible. When I went to actually say something to Cassidy I saw that Kyle was back and flirting with her. I glared and tried to listen in on their conversation.

"Ya know I had an aunt named Cassidy, but everyone called her Sadie" Kyle smiled and it made me sick that he was even saying the name Sadie around Cassidy.

"My mother used to call me that, I haven't let anyone call me that since she died, never found anyone special enough to allow them the privilege" Cassidy shrugged and I gritted my teeth, so that's why she didn't like it when I called her that, but I wasn't about to stop.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find someone eventually" Kyle smiled at her and I had to stop a growl from escaping my lips.

"Yea" Cassidy looked down at he bottle of beer and I thought for a second she was going to tell him to leave because she was here with someone, but she just continued to look at her bottle until he spoke again.

"Why don't ya leave your brother here and come join me and my friends?" Kyle suggested and Cassidy glanced in my direction, but before she could really get a look at me I was already stomping over to Kyle and glaring into his eyes.

"Ya best be gettin' back ta ya friends" I demanded and he tried to intimidate me with his body weight. I leaned in closer and narrowed my eyes.

"Better call off your pet" Kyle looked around me and nodded to Cassidy.

"Connor, back off" Cassidy grabbed onto my arm and tried to pull me back but I stood my ground and continued to glare at Kyle.

"You better listen to your sister" He nodded in Cassidy's direction and it just pissed me off more.

"He's not my brother, asshole, he's with me" Cassidy stood up and tried to step in and defend herself but I stuck my arm out and pressed her back.

"I tink you 'nd I need ta step outside 'nd 'ave a lil chat" I suggested and Kyle got closer up into my face and I clenched my fists ready to strike if need be.

"Connor, stop this" Cassidy tried again to stop me from giving this man a lesson in private property.

"'Ey you get outta my bar" Doc interrupted everything and pointed at Kyle, "You 'nd ya friends out!" He demanded and Kyle looked from me to Doc obviously angry that I wasn't being kicked out as well. Once Kyle and his friends had left I sat back down on my stool and silence fell over us again. It was awkward after the confrontation with Kyle, I didn't really know what to say to Cassidy after all of that. I was sitting there taking drinks of my beer every so often when Cassidy suddenly got up and walked out of the bar after she finished her drink. I groaned to myself and stood up quickly threw a twenty dollar bill on the counter and raced out of the bar after her.

Cassidy's POV

I had finished by beer quickly and left the bar, I was determined to just leave Connor there and drive home. He was being so childish and so evasive and it was pissing me off, if he was going to be like this then I was going to leave his happy ass there. I was storming towards my car when I felt a hand close around my arm, I immediately stopped and confronted my assailant. I had to admit that I wasn't all that surprised to see that it was Connor standing there when I turned around.

"What do you want?" I growled.

"Where are you going?" He asked confused.

"Home" I said and tried to turn back towards my car, but Connor kept holding on to my arm so I couldn't move.

"Why?" He asked and I scoffed, he actually had to ask this, I was appalled.

"Connor, you made a scene in there for nor reason, why do you have to mark your territory, I was just being nice, honestly this night was a disaster, hopefully Mel and Murph' had a better night than us" I ripped my arm away from Connor and stood there rubbing my arm.

"Is that what you want, a man that cleans up and takes you to a nice dinner?" Connor asked and I could tell that he was hurt a little bit by the discussion.

"No" I paused and Connor looked up at me, "I want you, a rustic, exotic, hardass, but I don't want you freaking out every time I talk to another guy, I flirt, and you will just have to get over that" I explained and Connor was watching me sort of confused.

"Yea" Connor said and I smiled up at him.

"I think that maybe we should go back to my place and have some drinks, what do you think?" I asked and gave Connor some flirty eyes, trying to show him that it wasn't just other guys I could flirt with.

"Yea" He nodded and smirked at me wildly, and I had a sneaking suspicion that this could possibly be saved. I smiled to myself as we walked to my car, oh how things could change from one extreme to the next.

Melanie's POV

Murphy and I had finished our dinner and was just sitting there drinking some wine enjoying the nice restaurant.

"I really am glad we got to do this" I smiled and looked across the table to look into Murphy's eyes, I could tell that he was fully relaxed and he was loving this moment just as much as I was.

"It was nice" Murphy smiled slightly at me and I felt warm from the tips of my toes all the way to the top of my head. I wasn't sure if it was the wine, Murphy, or the fact that I felt amazing in this dress I was wearing, but I leaned forward and whispered over to Murphy.

"You wanna go back to my place and get in the hot tub?" I asked and Murphy looked up and met my gaze and lifted an eyebrow suggestively. I usually wasn't this straight forward, but just like the time I had first kissed Murphy, I seemed to be channeling my best impression of Cassidy.

"Sure" Murphy took the napkin off of his lap and started to get up, I hurriedly grabbed my credit card out of the black book that our waiter had dropped off and we headed out the door. We waited down the street on the sidewalk for the bus to come and pick us up, I didn't mind riding the bus just as long as I was with Murphy, but it was a little different for me. The bus finally arrived and we boarded and went straight to the back of the bus, I hoped Murphy knew where to get off because I had no clue how the buses really worked and that one even went by our house. As we waited fort he bus to near our stop I grabbed hold of Murphy's hand and held it in mine before resting my head on his shoulder and enjoying the close proximity.

Cassidy's POV

Connor and I had arrived at the house and I opened the front door and Connor walked into the foyer and stared at the interior as I walked into the kitchen and set down my purse and such.

"Like it?" I asked breaking his concentration.

"I shoulda known it's be dis great, ya guest 'ouse was nice" He smirked and I shook my head. I had forgot that he had gone into the guest house, after all he had killed one of my uncles there.

"Yea" I held onto and rubbed my hands at the awkward situation.

"So drinks?" Connor asked and I immediately remembered why I had asked him over here in the first place. I walked back into the kitchen and grabbed the liquor cabinet key.

"Here, I'll go get the glasses, pick out whatever you'd like" I dropped the key into Connor's hand and then walked back into the kitchen to search for some crystal glasses. When I walked back out Connor was holding a prized bottle of whiskey in one hand and in the other he was holding my gun.

"I jus' 'ave one question, why is ya gun in da liquor cabinet?" He asked a small smiled tugging at the corner of his lip.

"Oh, well Melanie thought that I shouldn't take it dress shopping, figured no one would find it there" I scratched the back of my head a little embarrassed about the whole thing.

"Dress shoppin'" Connor raised an eyebrow and I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks, damnit Connor stop being so intriguing.

"She wanted a new dress for her date tonight" I explained and walked over to grab my gun and walked past him into the living room.

"I see" He voice trailed off and suddenly he was right behind me with the whiskey, he opened the bottle and poured some into the glasses that I had set on the coffee table.

"What are you implying Connor?" I asked glaring at him with a small shake of my head.

"Nothin'" He shrugged and plopped down on the couch making himself at home.

"Mmhmm" I continued to star at him but cocked my eyebrow up trying to get him to speak my mind.

"Dis new?" He asked tugging on my dress and I fell down onto the couch next to him. I straightened my dress and sat back properly on the couch and crossed my legs.

"Maybe" I continued to straighten the bottom half of my dress.

"Cassidy, ya a terrible liar" Connor smirked and I finally looked at him.

"Fine, it's new, it looked nice, it's not like I bought it for you or anything" I rambled on. In actuality I hadn't bought it for him, it really did look nice on me and that's why I bought it, but when Connor called I knew just what I was going to wear tonight.

"Mmhmm" This time it was Connor's turn not to believe me.

"Shut up and drink your whiskey" I poured a little more into his bottle and he continued to smirk at me, "And wipe that smirk off your face" I playfully smacked him in the arm. Connor immediately stopped smirking and took a drink of his whiskey, I laughed to myself at the fact that he had actually listened to me for once and took a drink out of my own glass.

"Dis is really good whiskey" Connor finally broke the silence that had fallen over us, I turned and nodded as I finished what was left in my glass and poured myself another. Between the beer I had, had at the bar and the two or three glasses of whiskey I had since we arrived at the house I was feeling a tad bit toasty.

"Cassidy ya really did look good tanight" Connor said and I looked over at him and I could tell that he was being genuine, it wasn't like before when he wrinkled up his nose in confusion.

"Thank you" I smiled and leaned in to give him a small peck on the lips, but as soon as my lips touched his he dove in and deepened the kiss. When we finally broke apart I leaned back towards him after setting my glass down and whispered in his ear.

"You can call me Sadie" I smiled slightly and Connor pulled me back to get a clear look at my face, his expression was a cross between shock and curiosity, but he didn't say anything he just brought me closer to him and kissed me one more time. We were soon entwined with each others bodies, and at one point I could tell where I began and Connor stopped, our kisses were hot and impatient as we relied on each other for guidance into the crazy world that we had delved into. Connor brushed his tongue across my bottom lip and I granted him access to my mouth. As he expertly navigated his tongue against mine I found myself thinking about whether or not he had practiced his talents on other girls, jealousy flared in the back of my mind and I tried my best to shut it down. Connor was doing strange things to me, he was breaking down my walls that I had built back up, and he was distracting me from my real line of work, but it was hard for my mind to complain when my body kept telling me to go farther. The next thing I knew I was pulling Connor up off the couch and grabbing his hand before leading him up the stairs and into my room. I opened the door and stepped in pulling Connor in with me and quickly closed the door before Connor shoved me up against it and resumed our kissing. We finally broke apart and Connor inspected my room with fresh eyes.

"'nd ya thought my apartment was bad" Connor scoffed and I turned to glare at him with my hands on my hips.

"Hey, my father had an interior designer decorate this room" I stared at him and he threw his arms up in the air.

"Honey I don' care if the pope decorated dis room, it don' suit ya" He smirked before picking me up bridal style and tossing me on my own bed, "Bed's nice though, gotta give ya dat" He smiled wildly before leaning down to kiss me.

**A/N: So here it is 28, sorry it took me longer than normal to post today, didn't get this one done last night. Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter shall be Animals by: Nickelback. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for your review! And a very big thank you goes out to **_Majix_** for the lovely PM you sent today! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	29. Chapter 29

Cassidy's POV

I woke up the next morning and turned in bed and when I opened my eyes I was staring into the sleeping face of Connor. I smiled to myself as I watched him sleep and figured there was no way for me to fall back asleep, so I slowly snuck out of bed and made sure not to wake Connor. When I made it out of bed and knew that I hadn't woken him up I walked to the door and slowly opened and closed the door. I was backing up and I ran into something and wiped around to see a shirtless Murphy standing there shocked. I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks at the embarrassing and awkward encounter.

"After ya" Murphy reached a hand out motioning for me to go down before him. I nodded to him before I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen with Murphy walking slightly behind me.

"So, didn't know you were here" I walked over to the coffee pot and started making coffee. Murphy awkwardly stood in the doorway to the kitchen and scratched the back of his head.

"Yea" He looked down at his feet and continued to stay away from me.

"You can come sit down, I'm just waiting on the coffee" I offered as I sat down at the table in the kitchen. Murphy hesitated but stepped forward and took a seat the table, " I realize we haven't really gotten to know each other, I'm usually interacting with Connor and obviously you're taken by Melanie, but I feel like we could get along and be friends" I smiled at Murphy before standing up and pouring two cups of coffee after it was brewed.

"Yea, ya obviously caught Connor's attention, it only seems right dat we play nice" Murphy said and I turned around confused, but when I saw he was smiling I laughed.

"I think we can manage that" I smirked handing him a cup of coffee and he took it with a nod and took a quick sip.

"Ya got any advil?" Murphy asked and I was suddenly aware of the slow headache that was settling in, I loved the drink, but it didn't love me the morning after.

"Yea, hold on" I stood up and went to the medicine cabinet in the kitchen and came back with a bottle of advil. I handed him three pills and poured out three for myself before downing them with my coffee.

"I worry about Mel you know" I stated and Murphy looked up an met my eyes.

"No need ta worry 'bout 'er" He assured me, but I wasn't about to believe that.

"You take care of her, and don't hurt her, she's my only family left, I have to protect her" I was sincere in what I was saying and Murphy could see that because he nodded and I felt like he was taking what I was saying to heart.

"Better not 'urt Connor either" Murphy warned and I looked up at him and we both laughed.

"I think that's the other way around" I smiled and Murphy nodded in agreement. Murphy wasn't a man of many words, but he was much more simple than his brother and I could see why Melanie was so interested in him, I could definitely get along with him if Melanie and Murphy continued to be together. We continued to laugh about the Connor comment when I heard a man other than Murphy clear his throat, when I looked up I saw Connor and Melanie standing in the doorway with their arms crossed.

"You guys take lessons in looking like each other" I stated and Murphy turned around to look at Melanie and Connor and we both laughed again. Connor and Melanie didn't seem to get our joke and ignored us as they finally walked into the room.

"Morning" Melanie said and walked over to murphy and gave him a soft peck on the lips. Connor looked from Mel and Murph' and looked at me and nodded as a greeting, I nodded in return and Connor made his way over to me. I had to admit I was a little disappointed I didn't get a good morning kiss, but I didn't expect anything like that from him, after all he was my hardass Irishman.

"What 're ya two talkin' 'bout?" Connor asked sitting down in the chair next to me.

"Just you two" I winked at Murphy and we smiled at each other. Connor glanced at his brother and they exchanged a silent conversation as Melanie and I sat there confused. When we finished our little talk I stood up and poured two more cups of coffee and handed one to Connor and one to Melanie.

"Anyone hungry?" I asked and Murphy and Connor perked up and looked at me, "I'll take those excited looks as a yes, so I'll make some breakfast, Mel do you wanna go set up the dinning room so we can eat" Melanie nodded to me and took Murphy with her to help set up the dining room table. I went to the fridge and got the eggs out and found a pan, I was going to make scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon. I gathered everything that I needed and started to make the food. Murphy and Melanie were still in the other room and I was busy scrambling the eggs in a bowl before cooking them when I felt two arms wrap around my waist.

"Connor I'm trying to make breakfast" He began to kiss my neck and then nibbled on my ear and whispered some very explicit things to me, "Do you want fed or what?" I asked trying to take control of my body again.

"Well we could always do someting else" Connor kissed my neck one more time.

"You're such a man" I smirked and turned around in his arms. I popped up and gave him a peck on the lips, "Good morning by the way" I smiled and Connor smirked. I know that deep down inside Connor wanted to be a normal person, but he was just like me in the aspect that he was afraid to let anyone see that part him. I was glad that I was able to force that part of him out every once in a while, because it was really nice to see the sweet counterpart to the hardass he always was.

"Now go do something productive so I can finish breakfast" I pushed him away and he released my waist and walked out of the kitchen. Once I finished with the eggs, bacon, and toast I brought three bowls into the dinning room and we all began to eat.

"Dis is really good Cass" Murphy said with a mouthful of eggs, Melanie and I looked at each other and snickered. After we all finished breakfast Melanie helped me take all the dishes into the kitchen and start the dishwasher.

"Well we should be goin'" Connor poked his head into the kitchen and I put down the dish I was holding and walked over to him.

"Ok, thanks for an improved night last night" I smiled and he narrowed his eyes at me playfully. An awkward moment of silence fell over us and then Connor just walked over to the door and waited for Murphy. When I turned to look at Melanie she was entwined with Murphy in a very elaborate goodbye kiss. I turned back to look at Connor and he was just shaking his head to himself while I was embarrassed by the whole thing. Murphy and Connor finally left and headed for the bus stop and I went back to finishing the dishes in the kitchen.

"I had no idea you guys were here last night, this morning was so embarrassing" Melanie voiced her concerns and I just laughed.

"You should have seen it when I walked out of my room this morning and saw Murphy standing there, now that was awkward" I laughed and Melanie's cheeks pinkened.

"Yea" She said in a soft voice and looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap.

"I can see he really cares for you, I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time before about being with him" I apologized and Melanie looked up at me and I thought she was going to cry, her eyes were shiny and she started to sniffle.

"That means so much to me Cass, you are the best judge of character and the fact that you put forth the effort and talked with him this morning makes me so happy" Melanie walked over to me and gave me a hug, I was really confused by her super emotions that she had thrust on me so I gently patted her back until she released me.

"No problem, Murphy is a nice guy, me and him could get along" I smiled softly and this made her jump up and down excitedly, "Don't get too carried away there weepy" I laughed and Melanie stopped and wiped her eyes.

"Sorry" She looked up at me.

"Don't be sorry, you're in love, I'm happy for ya" I put the last dish in the dishwasher and wiped my hands off with a dish towel.

"I'm in love" She repeated and a smile consumed her face. Her excitement and happiness was contagious and I found myself smiling at her good fortune, that was until I remembered I had a mob meeting this afternoon, then my happy mood came crashing down because there was still one thing we were hiding from the MacManus brothers and one thing I was hiding from Connor that could possibly ruin everything that we had been through.

It was around 2:30 when everyone had arrived in the meeting room and I cleared my throat to get everyone's attention.

"We are ready to begin, status report on the Saints" I called out and a tall lanky man stood up in the back of the room and began speaking.

"We have a lead, been following it for a few days, but they haven't struck in a while, hard to pin them for it" He finished and I nodded my head.

"Continue working on it" I commanded. I would have to be more careful when it came to associating with Connor, my people would find it a little suspicious if I was spending so much time with one of the Saints.

"What about the Russians, are they giving us anymore lip?" I asked and a man that was closer to me and a little more heavy set stood up and started to speak.

"The Russians have taken all of the drugs and disposed of them, we offered them a better deal and they refused, they are pushing in on our territory know, they don't think you will do anything, they don't see you as a threat Miss Cassidy" He explained and I got this wild idea, they don't think I'm a threat huh?

"Not a threat, well send some of our guys down there with some guns and force them to move the new product, or I'll come down there myself and have a little chat with Blake" I demanded, Blake was their boss, and I had known him practically my whole life, went to school with him and everything, but when his dad died and he took over the Russian mob he had pushed all his friends away. They didn't think I was a threat, obviously they hadn't met me recently, all the time I had been spending with Connor I think had made me tougher and more sneaky, so if it came down to it I would confront the Russian mob and I would win.

"Any other matters that need to be discussed?" I asked looking around the room.

"We are still a little concerned about the Saints, they have taken out four of our big guys and two second in commands, which one of us is next?" One guys stood up and asked and the whole room echoed his concerns.

"I'm telling you right now that none of you have anything to worry about, I wont let these so called Saints run us forever, my father was a strong man and he ran this mob and made it what it is today, I won't let what he made perish, arm yourselves at all times and don't let your guard down, we will put an end to the Saints and we will build our empire to new heights" I finished my little speech and I could tell that everyone in the room believed me. Funny thing was I was the only one that didn't believe the speech, I was digging myself into two very deep holes, one with my mob and the other with Connor, I was beginning to think that I would never be able to get out of either one, and if I managed, I probably wouldn't be alive in one of the situations. I dismissed everyone and continued to sit in my chair thinking about everything, the Russians were getting testy and they could pose a real problem, I needed to think some things through and possibly think about telling Connor the truth before it was too late.

**A/N: Man one more chapter and I've got 30, this is literally the longest story I have ever written, not just amount of chapters, but also word-wise, I can't believe it. Hope you enjoy! No song for today, rushing off to class again. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for the reviews, much appreciated! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	30. Chapter 30

Murphy's POV

Connor and I made our way back to the apartment and I found myself thinking about the events that unfolded since the night before. My talk with Cassidy that morning had actually been nice and I felt like she was a sweet person, but similar to my brother she had a hard exterior that just needed to be pulled away. She had told me not to hurt Melanie and when I told her that she didn't have anything to worry about I was being truthful with my words, I loved Melanie and I would never do anything to hurt her. We went on to joke about Cassidy hurting Connor, which would never happen, I was more concerned with Connor hurting Cassidy and this thought suddenly gave me the courage to ask my brother a question that I had been contemplating.

"Conn?" I asked and Connor looked up at me as he sat down on his bed.

"What?" He asked back and I sat down on my bed right next to his and prepared myself the backlash that I would receive by asking my question.

"Do ya really care 'bout Cassidy, or 're ya jus' usin' 'er for ya pleasure?" I asked and I was surprised when I looked up at my brother and he had a contemplating look on his face. I was shocked that he wasn't shutting down his emotions or attacking me like he normally did when I tried to learn more about his relationship with Cassidy.

"I obviously like 'er, wouldn't want anyting ta happen to 'er, dats 'bout all I can say 'bout it" Connor shrugged and I nodded my head. He wasn't as comfortable with the things he was feeling like I was. Connor and I were brothers and we may seem the same on the outside, but on the inside both of us are complete opposites. Connor is hard on the inside and out while I am hard on the outside but can channel a softer side on the inside when need be.

"What's ya sudden interest?" Connor glanced up at me and I could tell he was genuinely curious.

"My talk with Cassidy got me thinkin' she's a nice woman, don' want ya draggin' 'er along for da wrong reasons" I explained and Connor scoffed at my comment.

"If anyone should be worried 'bout bein' dragged along, it should be me" He laughed to himself and all I could do was shake my head. Sometimes Connor could be so pessimistic about things.

"Ya don' tink dat maybe ya can actually be wit 'er?" I asked and finally Connor was back to his old self.

"Ya accidentally take ya girlfriends birth control, 'cause ya soundin' awful feminine over der" Connor smiled and I knew I had lost the chance to learn more about what was going on in his head.

"Worth a try" I mumbled and laid back on my bed, I was ready to relax and possibly get some more sleep after the very sleepless night before.

"Murph'" Connor spoke and I opened my eyes and sat up to face him.

"I know I give ya a 'ard time 'bout stuff, 'nd I'll try ta back off a bit, but I can't promise too much ya still are me brudder" Connor punched my arm and I smirked at him, at least he was trying to soften a little bit, maybe Cassidy was a good influence on him. And just like a flip of a light switch Connor was back to being his normal hard self, "I'm getting' restless Murph' we need a 'it" He groaned flopping back on his bed.

"Well, we still 'ave the last name dat Mel gave me" I suggested and Connor sat up in bed and looked at me his eyes very bright.

"Excellent" He smirked.

Two Days Later

Cassidy's POV

I had received a phone call from my brother informing me that Andrew and been killed by the Saints and I groaned to myself, Connor had warned me that he would still have to take him out, but it had taken a little longer than I thought for him to do it. I gathered my belongings and headed for my car, I was to meet Joe and the crime scene and he would allow me to have a look around. Andrew was a number two and a very distant cousin, but he wasn't as important as some of the other deaths, but I still needed to play the part of the concerned mob boss. I drive the couple miles to the scene of the crime and followed Joe into the house. He showed me where everything was and then left me to do a little investigating of my own. I was crouched down examining the blood splatter when my concentration was soon interrupted.

"What brings ya 'ere?" I turned around and growled under my breath because Connor was once again revisiting the scene of his crime.

"Don't you know you shouldn't return to the scene of the crime, bad luck, might get caught" I nodded at him and turned back to my work.

"Well, jus' came ta see who would be investigatin' to me dis seems like a matter dat a boss would want ta look at" Connor explained and I tightened my jaw hoping he didn't ask just what I was doing here.

"Yea, well can't help ya there, last I checked I wasn't the boss, sorry" I frowned at him before taking a few steps away and trying to occupy myself with other things.

"Which brings me back to my original question, why ya 'ere?" He asked again and I kept my back to him as I responded.

"My brother's a cop, police work intrigues me so I thought I'd come and see what he does" I shrugged my shoulders and continued to focus on the shell casing that was on the floor in front of me.

"I see" Connor sounded like he was only half convinced and I was afraid that I had been caught and he was just waiting for me to say something or confess, but I wasn't about to give him that kind of satisfaction.

"So, are you busy at the moment?" I asked trying to change the subject. Connor watched me carefully and I tried not to make eye contact with him afraid that he would see through all my lies.

"Nope" Connor took a step towards me.

"Let's go to the club" I suggested and Connor coked his head to the side and looked at me confused, "I have something to show you" I added and he arched an eyebrow in suspicion.

"After ya" Connor pointed to the door and we both walked out and headed to my car, it was going to be hard to keep the charade of not knowing who the mob boss was, but I was damn sure going to try.

We arrived at the club and it wasn't open yet, I used my keys to open the back door, I walked past the offices and walked out into the open dance floor and made my way over to the bar. I walked behind the bar and leaned on the counter as Connor sat down at one of the stool.

"What'll it be stranger?" I asked. Connor shifted his head slightly and looked at me confused.

"I dint know ya were a bartender" He smiled. I couldn't help but smirk at the smile that had spread across his lips.

"Yea, gave Jimmy the night off, so I gotta work tonight, it's just something I like to do every once in a while" I explained and started to busy myself with getting some of the glasses ready, "So what can I get ya?" I asked again.

"Just a beer" Connor said and I found his favorite and handed it to him after I popped the top off, "So what else ya hidin' from me?" Connor asked and I could feel my cheeks get very red.

"Wouldn't you just like to know" I smirked and Connor raised an eyebrow at me seductively, sometimes he could be such a tease.

"Ya seem pretty comfortable behind the bar, how long ya been a bartender?" He asked and filled a glass with coke for myself and leaned over the counter to look into Connor's eyes.

"It's how I made some extra cash through college" I took a drink of my soda and Connor laughed, "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Bartender eh, I woulda guessed stripper or somting" Connor smirked and stared back into my eyes. I was suddenly very uncomfortable by the close proximity and backed away.

"Aren't you just funny" I faked a laugh and turned my back to him to grab a cherry and eat it.

"With ya moves, its gotta be true" I could hear him smiling and I whipped around and glared at him playfully.

"Can it MacManus" I pointed a finger at him and he smirked wildly, I had to admit I loved the sarcastic and playful Connor just as much as I loved the sweet Connor. I could see how he was influencing me through everything we had been through and I was happy with the changes that had been made, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Melanie's POV

I was sitting at the big table in the secret mob room sorting through some papers Cassidy had left me, I was excited that she had actually trusted me with being in charge of something that pertained to the mob. Most of the time she tried to keep me as far away from the family business as she could, but it seemed like lately she was more willing to let me know just what was going on, and now she trusted me with filing away some of the most important documents for the business. There was a always a positive and negative to everything that happened in my life, the positive to finally be involved in the mob was that I was actually helping Cassidy and potentially earning her trust back, but the down side was that I was now simultaneously working against my boyfriend. I smiled to myself at the thought of calling Murphy my boyfriend, as I sat there daydreaming and wishing that it could be more simple to have the best of both worlds, but Cassidy had told me many times that it was not possible and I believed her. I would eventually have to choose a side, but at the moment I was so in love with Murphy that I would choose him over Cassidy, but I wasn't sure I could live with my decision after the fact, I just wished that I would never have to actually be faced with the decision. My thoughts had taken me away to a totally different place and by the time I came back to reality I was done with the filing and was once again faced with the threat of boredom. I spun around in the big leather chair at the table and tried to think of something I could do, it was then that I had the idea that I wanted to go dancing, I hadn't been in a while and it was a good way to clear my head and relax. I sighed to myself at the thought of going by myself, even if Cassidy wasn't busy she wouldn't be thrilled to go with me so I decided to call up Murphy and see if he would at least go with me so I would have someone to talk to. I dialed his number and listened to the other line ring and waited patiently for him to answer, he said his hello after he picked up the phone and I proceeded to ask him my question.

"Hey Murph' would you like to go dancing?" I asked and I knew it wasn't really his thing, but I hoped that because I asked he would actually want to go just to spend time with me.

"Dancin'?" He asked and I could tell he wasn't all that thrilled about it.

"Yea, it's really fun, you don't have to dance I just don't want to go alone" I explained and I heard Murphy sigh to himself and I could tell he was really thinking about it.

"Yea, sure, I guess so" He sounded very hesitant, but I wasn't going to press the issue, he had actually said yes and that was a start.

"Great meet me outside the club" I smiled to myself before hanging up the phone and running upstairs to get dressed.

**A/N: So Chapter 30 now exists, super excited to say that! Hope you enjoy! I'm too lazy to search for a song for this chapter, its midnight and I'm pretty drained. No comments on chapter 29 yet, Wanna be mentioned on next update R&R Please!**


	31. Chapter 31

Melanie's POV

I was waiting outside of the club for Murphy smoking a cigarette when someone covered my eyes form behind me.

"Murphy" I said unsure of who it just might be, when I turned around I smiled at Murphy as he smiled back at me, "I'm sure glad it was you and not some crazy killer" I laughed and Murphy's smiled faded as he looked at me concerned, "Oh, calm down, nothing is going to happen to me" I reassured him. I laced my arm through his and then we walked to the back door of the club, I used the key that Cassidy had given me and opened the door. We made our way past the offices and straight out to the dance floor, I was determined to have a good time and dance my worries away. Murphy stood off to the side watching me dance and I was just glad that he had decided to come, I wasn't mad that he didn't want to dance. After several songs passed I decided I was parched and walked over to Murphy.

"Wanna head to the bar and get a drink or something?" I asked and Murphy nodded his head. We made our way over to the bar and I was shocked when I spotted Connor sitting at the bar.

"Connor what 're ya doin' 'ere?" Murphy asked as I walked up to the counter and leaned over to try to see the bartender.

"Cassidy" Connor and I both said it at the same time and we looked at each other awkwardly. Cassidy finally made her way down to the end of the bar we were standing at and she looked at me shocked.

"What are you doing here?" She asked hollering over the boom of the music in the background.

"Wanted to dance, what are you doing here?" I asked in return and Cassidy started making me a drink without me telling her what I wanted.

"Bartending helps me clear my mind, needed some relaxation time" She finished and glanced over at Connor, I understood what she was talking about and I followed her eyes over to Connor and Murphy and they were looking from each other to Cassidy.

"What's wrong with you two?" I asked as Cassidy placed my drink on the counter and handed another beer to Connor.

"Nothin'" Murphy said and Connor nudged him.

"Mmhmm" Cassidy and I exchanged a look and smiled at each other. Sometimes men were so bad at hiding what they were really thinking.

"Hey Jennifer, cover me, holler if ya need help" Cassidy yelled at her helper and walked out from behind the bar and sat down next to Connor to visit with all of us. We stood there for a while talking when Cassidy suddenly grabbed my hand and took me out on the dance floor. I was shocked that Cassidy was actually dancing especially when Connor was sitting over at the bar watching.

"What are you doing?" I asked yelling in here ear.

"Needed to talk to you, plus it's always fun making Connor sweat" She smirked and I couldn't help but laugh.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" I asked and she leaned in again to yell in my ear.

"Connor was at Andrews earlier, thought he'd run into the boss there, he's getting close Mel, I think I've gotta tell him" She explained and my eyes widened.

"Are you sure, he's probably not going to take that very well" I suggested and she nodded.

"I haven't quite thought it all the way through" She sighed and stopped dancing for a second. I nudged her in the arm and she got back in rhythm with the music. We were dancing around just having a good time, I was glad to see that Cassidy was actually enjoying herself instead of sitting on the sidelines like she normally did. While we were dancing to the next song I could feel someone directly next to me, when I turned I saw that it wasn't Murphy or Connor but a random guy on the dance floor, he smiled at me and started dancing with Cassidy and I. Cassidy looked at me confused but continued to dance trying to keep a safe distance from the guy, the song finally ended and the guy leaned down and introduced himself to both of us. He said his name was Romeo and he complimented us on our good looks and our dancing abilities. He kept getting a little too close for comfort and was a little touchy feely and I tried to give Cassidy a silent signal that I was uncomfortable, but before she could do anything to get the guy away from me Murphy had tackled him to the ground and was beating the shit out of him. Cassidy went to get Murphy off of the guy, but Connor was soon helping his brother beat the shit out of Romeo and Cassidy rolled her eyes and tried to pull Connor off. Finally the bouncer came and broke up the fight and Cassidy explained that Connor and Murphy were with us and that he needed to escort Romeo out of the club. After everything was settled we all made our way back over to the bar.

"What the hell was that all about?" I asked Murphy and he shyly shrugged his shoulder.

"He was gettin' to close to ya" Murphy explained and I laughed, he immediately looked up at me confused.

"You're so cute" I smiled and leaned up to plant a kiss on his lips. He continued to look at me oddly but I soon focused my attention on Cassidy and Connor.

"What did I tell you about getting all pissed off at people?" Cassidy was whisper yelling at Connor but I could hear he perfectly.

"I was jus' helpin' out Murph'" Connor shrugged.

"Sure" Cassidy glared at him before heading back behind the bar, "Jennifer, you able to handle it the rest of the night?" Cassidy asked and Jennifer nodded.

"Time to go" Cassidy came back out from behind the bar with her purse and other belongings and tugged on Connor's shirt. I looked over at Murphy and nodded at him giving him the que that it was time for us to leave as well. We all followed each other out of the club and then went our separate ways.

The Next Day

Cassidy's POV

I woke up the next morning and I was actually awake and ready for the day, I quickly hopped out of bed and got ready and skipped over to Melanie's room and knocked on the door lightly. I opened the door when I didn't here anything and stepped in slowly.

"Melanie?" I called looking around the room, I was shocked when Melanie walked out of her closet fully dressed and ready for the day.

"Oh, hey Cass what ya need?" She asked as she slipped on some shoes.

"You wanna go shopping?" I asked and Melanie's face lit up.

"You are asking me to go shopping?" Melanie asked, "Are you feeling ok?" She laughed and I couldn't help but smile.

"Feeling just fine, just want to go shopping" I shrugged and Melanie happily grabbed her purse and we walked down the stairs and out to my car. We made our way to the strip of shops that I preferred and I parked the car. My phone buzzed to life and I looked at the caller ID and was confused when it said it was a blocked number, but I disregarded that fact an answered it anyway.

"Hello?" I asked.

"You better watch your back Morelli, because you're not safe anymore, we are going to stop you, stay out of our territory or else" The man who had spoke on the phone immediately hung up and I was left standing there with an odd look on my face.

"What's wrong?" Melanie asked and I shook my head. I wasn't about to tell her that now the Russians might be a serious threat, she didn't need to be worried about that at the moment. We made our way to the first shop and we spent about an hour looking around, I was being abnormally picky when it came to the clothes I was looking at and I ended up buying nothing. I was also more focused on the fact that there was a strange looking man following us around through the store, my suspicions were further heightened when he continued and walked into the next shop that we went into. I decided to try and ignore it, but I was still very worried, especially because I didn't have my gun with me, I had taken Melanie's advice and left my gun at the house once again and I felt very naked without it when there could be potential danger. We finished shopping and made our way out of the last store and towards my car. We passed an alleyway that separated the buildings we were passing and a man jumped out of nowhere and grabbed Melanie. I instinctively grabbed for my gun but cussed at myself when I realized that I didn't have it at the moment. The man was making his way down the alley walking very rapidly with Melanie still in his grasp, I stopped thinking about what to do and I immediately sprinted after him. As soon as I turned the corner several guns started shooting at me and I dropped to the ground and covered my head, when they stopped I stood up and started to chase after them. Everyone stopped and the man holding Melanie held a gun up to her head.

"Take one more step and she dies" I halted my movement and looked at my cousin as tears spilled out of her eyes. I could feel my own eyes watering at the debacle we had gotten into and I didn't know what to do, so I did what they told me and I stood there. As soon as they realized I wasn't going to try and make another move, they hauled Melanie away and shoved her into a car before speeding away. I stood there and tried to clear my thoughts and try to figure out what to do next, but I was coming up blank I was panicking, they had taken her, the fucking Russians had taken her and I didn't know how to get her back. I ran back to my car and headed to the one people that I thought could help me. I parked my car out side the apartment building and ran up the five flights of stairs and when I arrived at the door to the apartment I hammered my hand so hard on it that I couldn't feel my hand. Murphy opened the door for me and I stormed in and started pacing around in tiny circles trying to catch my breath. Connor was trying to grab on to me and he was constantly telling me to calm down, finally I stopped my pacing and let Connor grab onto my shoulders and hold me still as I was still huffing and puffing trying to catch my breath.

"Tell me what happened?" Connor asked looking me in the eyes.

"They took her, Connor they took her, the Russians fucking took her, we gotta go we have to find her" I started panicking again and tried to pace some more, but Connor held me still.

"Took who, Cassidy, who did dey take?" Murphy started to question me and I could hear a bit of panic in his voice as well.

"Everyone jus' shut da 'ell up" Connor raised his voice and pointed a finger at Murphy before he focused his attention back on me.

"Sadie, who did dey take?" Connor asked and the fact that he was calling me Sadie and trying to calm me down made me want to cry, a tear slipped down my cheek at the thought but I looked up at him and answered.

"Melanie, they took Melanie" I was done holding in all the tears and I finally started to break down.

"We gotta go, we gotta go find 'er" Murphy started towards his brother as Connor held onto me.

"One ting at a time" Connor stopped Murphy and then grabbed onto me and held me at arms length.

"Sadie, why would dey take Melanie?" Connor asked and I didn't want to look up at him because it was just going to make me cry more.

"The Mob" I started and sniffled trying to get myself together, "The Mob was pushing into the Irish and Russian neighborhoods, they must have gotten angered by it" I explained and trying to calm myself done, my mind was still racing all over the place I didn't know what to do.

"But why would dey target Melanie?" Connor asked and I looked away from him not wanting to answer his question. Connor let go of me and he allowed me to step away and I made my way over to the window.

"Sadie, why would dey target Melanie?" He asked again and I just continued to stare outside, I was not looking forward to possibly telling him that I was the head of the mob, but it seemed like it was going to be my only option.

"Cassidy" I could hear the anger in Connor's voice as he called my by my given name.

"They took Mel because I'm the head of the Italian mob" I whipped around and shouted with my eyes closed because I was too afraid to look at Connor and see his reaction. I stood there frozen in fear hoping that things didn't go as badly as I thought they would go.

**A/N: Wow, so what did ya'll think about that!? It was so fun to write, and it's only going to get better! Hope you enjoy. Song is going to be Nightmare by: Avenged Sevenfold. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	32. Chapter 32

Cassidy's POV

"I need your guys' help, we need to go find her, who knows what they are doing to her" I rambled on and on trying to ignore the fact that I just blurted out that I was the mob boss. Connor was standing there being very silent, but I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't necessarily taking the news very well.

"Murphy, we need to go find Melanie, don't you agree, Connor please, say something we need to go find her" I walked up to him and reached out to touch his arm, but he immediately shoved me away forcefully. I looked up at him in shock, he had never shoved me like that and it wasn't just the shove that hurt me, it was the look in his eyes. All the times I looked into his eyes and could see that he actually cared about me were gone, he was dark and cold just like he had been before we had gotten together.

"Connor?" I questioned taking a step towards him again, all I wanted was for him to hold me again like he had when I had first came over, I wanted him to tell me that everything was going to be just fine, that we were going to go get Melanie and we would all live happily ever after, but looking into those cold, dark eyes I knew that none of that would ever be true.

"Get out!" He yelled and his voice was so loud I closed my eyes and winced. I immediately turned to Murphy and tried to plead with him.

"Murphy, you love Melanie, we have to go after her" I tried to get him to help me but all he did was look down at his shoes.

"I said get out!" Connor yelled again and took two steps towards me. I glanced up and got a full glimpse at his posture paired with his eyes, and I was truly terrified. There was a fire burning in his eyes and there was a threatening language to his stance so I bowed my head and hurried out of the apartment and down to my car where I climbed in an immediately broke down. Everything was ruined, Melanie was gone, Connor hated me, and even Murphy wasn't willing to help, if only I had told him sooner, or not even have gotten involved with him, things could have been so much different. I sat in my car and leaned my head into my hands and just started to cry, I blamed Connor for everything that was happening, if hadn't of killed my father I wouldn't even be in this situation.

Connor's POV

I heard the door slam shut and I immediately let out a very hot and heavy sigh. I was furious, she had known all this time that we had wanted to take out the boss, and it was her all along.

"Dat stupid bitch" I growled and turned to my brother. Murphy was still standing there looking at his feet, "Pull yaself togeder man, we 'ave some work ta do" I explained.

"'re we gonna 'elp 'er?" Murphy asked and I actually laughed in his face.

"'ave ya fuckin' lost it, after everting she lied to us 'bout ya really tink I'm gonna 'elp 'er find 'er stupid cousin, dat bitch is as good as dead" I seethed. Not only was I furious at Cassidy for hiding who she really was I was furious at myself for falling for her and her tricks. I was hurt and I wanted no one to know that, but I was furious and I wanted revenge.

"But" Murphy began, but I cut him off.

"We're gonna take 'er out like we planned from da beginnin' it's our civic duty, no questions" I explained and was starting to calm down a little bit.

"What 'bout ya feelin's for 'er?" Murphy asked and I glared up at him. Feelings, he was seriously going to ask about feelings, feelings were worthless, they don't really mean nothing, just a waste of time.

"Fuck feelings, dis bitch is no longer gonna exist" I growled. Murphy looked at me confused and then tried to reason with me.

"Connor I tink ya need to take a second and retink dis" I scoffed at his comment and shook my head.

"I'm done tinking, we take 'er our da first chance we get" I nodded my head as a signal that the discussion was over and he had nothing else to add to the matter.

Next Morning

I was woken up by my phone buzzing and ringing, Murphy groaned at the foreign noise as I search my bed for my phone, I had the strange sense that everything that happened the night before was nothing but a bad dream, but when I saw Cassidy's name on my phone I almost threw it across the room. I wasn't about to answer the phone and listen to her spin more lies so I happily let it go to voicemail. As soon as the phone informed me that I had a voicemail I flipped it open and dialed.

"You have one new message, first unheard message" The robotic voice said to me and I waited patiently.

"Connor, I know you're not answering because it's me, but you have to listen to me, I need you, you and Murphy are the only ones that can help me, I'm sorry I lied to you and didn't tell you just who I was, please call me back Connor, I'm sorry" Cassidy's voice vanished from my phone and all I could do was growl at the absurd things she was asking me to do. I got out of bed and headed over to grab a drink of water after throwing my phone down on my bed. I still couldn't believe that she knew all this time who we were searching for and it had been her, granted even if she would have told me in advance I would still feel the same way I felt now, probably not hurt, but I would still want to take her out. I was faced with another mental battle early in the morning and I groaned to myself as I watched the cars drive by on the road below our apartment building.

Melanie's POV

The night before had been quite scary I was so afraid for both mine and Cassidy's lives, she was trying so hard to get to me and then they started shooting at her. I was glad to see she was fine after that thought, but then they started to threaten my life and that scared me even more. After they shoved me into the car they had taken me to a warehouse looking building and tied my arms and legs to a chair. It was in this position that I awoke the next morning. I groaned at the pain that had settled into my neck from the awkward position I had slept in and tried to stretched, but was soon reminded that I was tied to a chair. I was awake for about an hour when Blake, the head of the Russian mob, walked in and introduced himself.

"Hello Melanie, I'm Blake, very nice to finally meet you" He stuck out his hand, but soon realized that my hands were not available to be shaken.

"So you are Blake" I looked him up and down and was not impressed, he was nothing like Murphy, and was really not my type.

"Yes, I imagine you have heard much about me from Cassidy" Blake sat down across from me and I nodded my head.

"Heard enough" I said and he smiled slightly.

"I can tell that you are related to her, very hard and true, just like her" He nodded to himself. I took everything he had just said and took it as a compliment, I was glad that I was finally able to stand my ground and not let people push me around so easily, "So is there anything you would like to tell me about the Italian mob, that might be useful to me?" Blake asked and I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

"You honestly think I know anything about the Italian mob, and even if I didn't know anything I would tell a damn thing to you" I spat disgusted that he would think I would turn on my family. Despite the fact that I had sold out three of the higher ups I would never deliberately sell the whole mob out including Cassidy.

"Either way, we are taking her out" Blake informed me and I didn't like the sound of that.

"But you went to school with her, how can you do this?" I asked and he just shook his head.

"Cassidy and I both know that when you are related to the mob, no one is truly your friend" He explained and I had to admit it made sense, but it also made me worry, "Not to mention that she was warned several times" Cassidy had forgotten to mention that.

"Why don't we call up Cassidy and inform her of my plans" Blake smirked evilly and took out his cell phone. He placed the phone on the desk in front of him and put it on speaker. The phone rang several times and finally Cassidy answered.

"Hello?" She questioned.

"Hello Cassidy, its Blake, remember me, well I have someone that you might want to talk to" Blake nodded to me and I cleared my throat before speaking.

"Cassidy don't do anything he says, he's going to try and kill you" I called out to her and Blake stood up and backhanded me, causing me to stop talking.

"If you want Melanie back alive meet me at the abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city at 7 tonight" Blake explained and then hung up the phone. I hoped that Cassidy wasn't foolish enough to actually come and meet with Blake because it wouldn't end well for anyone, she needed to stay away and leave me here, they would need me for leverage, so my life wasn't really in danger.

Cassidy's POV

I hung up the phone and I was confused by the whole thing, I didn't know whether I was supposed to ignore Blake and listen to Melanie, or listen to Blake and ignore Melanie. It took me about an hour to truly think about what I was going to do and all I could think about was calling Connor and asking him what I should do. So I finally decided to try Connor one last time before I made my final decision, the phone rang and rang until his voicemail answered again and I groaned to myself, I guess I was going alone tonight. I grabbed my gun and decided to clean it while I waited fort he meeting tonight.

I glanced at the clock in my car and it read 6:54 and decided to go ahead and go into the warehouse. When I walked in I saw Melanie tied to a chair and I immediately ran over to her and untied her, I thought it was really strange that I was able to just casually walk in and untie her without anything happening.

"Cassidy, what are you doing here, I told you not to come, this is a trap" Melanie explained and I ignored her continued to glance around the room for Blake or any other Russian mob members, "Cassidy behind you" Melanie called and pointed behind me. I turned around and stared at Connor, he was standing there with a gun pointed at me and Murphy was standing behind him in a similar stance. I had a bad feeling about the whole situation, this seemed to be a double trap and I was unaware of the outcome of either of them.

"Connor?" I questioned and looked at him he had a very determined look on his face and all I could see was hate and fire in his eyes, "You're not here to help are you?" I didn't need him to speak to get an answer to that question because he was still looking at me with a hard stare.

"Any last words?" he spoke and I didn't recognize is voice at all.

"Love you, Honey" I flipped him off and was about to turn around when there was a loud gunshot and I felt a searing and burning pain tear through my abdomen. I reached my hand down and held my stomach and when I pulled my hand away it was stained red, I glanced up at Connor and murphy one last time before the whole world disappeared into darkness.

**A/N: Oh Damn! Wow, what do you all think happened? Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter is Love You by: Jack Ingram. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover _**and **_Sissymac_** for the Reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	33. Chapter 33

Melanie's POV

I watched Cassidy drop to the ground after I heard a gun shot, I glanced at her hand and saw blood and I immediately got angry with Connor.

"What the hell Connor!" I yelled and tried to get to him but the rapid fire of guns soon stopped me, I dropped down to the ground and covered my head. When I looked up I saw Connor and Murphy walking towards me and they were firing their guns at whoever was shooting at them. Finally the shooting ceased and I looked towards where the shots had originally come, Blake slowly walked out and made himself known.

"Looks like I got what I wanted, but just who are you?" Blake asked and pointed at Connor and Murphy who hadn't dropped their guns, they still had them pointed right back at Blake, "Not big on talking are we" He continued and then slowly set his gun down on the table, "No hard feelings, now if you wouldn't mind" Blake nodded at their guns and I wanted as Connor shook his head sternly to his brother giving him the sign not to back down.

"Now, we all need to play nice or someone is going to get hurt" Blake warned and I finally decided to get up off the floor, I took a few steps towards Murphy but was grabbed from behind. Murphy immediately turned and aimed his gun at the man holding onto me while Connor kept his gun focused on Blake.

"Now see someone is going to get hurt if you don't put down your guns" Blake smirked and shook his head disapproving of their persistence with their guns.

"Let me go" I grumbled and tried to shake loose from the guy that was holding me. Murphy made eye contact with me and I got what he was nonverbally telling me and immediately ducked my head down as he fired his gun and shot the man behind me. As soon as he fired a shot several other guns were firing at us and Murphy jumped on me and sheltered me from the shots that were being fired at us. As soon as he was able to Murphy hopped up and started firing his own gun along with Connor. Once again I was laying on the ground protecting my head from the debris and gun shots that were flying around me. I glanced up just in time to see Murphy get shot in the leg, he went down to one knee but continued to fire his gun. I made my way over to Murphy to see if he was ok but he immediately pushed me away so he could focus on what he was doing, the shooting continued for a while until Connor and Blake were the only two firing anymore. Connor didn't say a word as he stalked towards Blake, finally he stopped and looked to Murphy who stood up and hobbled over to his brother. I noticed that Connor's arm was stained with blood and when I looked harder I could see that a bullet had grazed the side of his arm. Murphy hobbled over to his brother and they forced Blake onto his knees and proceeded to do what they did best. As soon as Blake was dead and all the shooting had ceased I got up and ran over to Cassidy, through all the firefight she had just been lying there on the floor.

"Cassidy" I called shaking her, she was still unconscious and I was beginning to worry about her.

"Murphy, Connor help me with her, we need to get her to a hospital" I called and looked over at them, but they were slowly walking out of the warehouse leaving me there alone. Murphy turned and glanced at me with sorry eyes before following his brother out of the building.

Cassidy's POV

I woke up and stared up at the ceiling and couldn't really figure out where I was, the room didn't look familiar and I immediately started to get up until there was a sharp pain in my side. I glanced down and saw that I was in a hospital gown and when I pulled it up there was a bandage around the middle of my body.

"What the hell!" I hollered and I heard someone stir in the corner of the room, my eyes were still trying to adjust to the bright lights in the room and I couldn't see just who it was.

"Cassidy" It was a female voice and I figured it was Melanie, "Oh thank god you're awake" Melanie came over and hugged me.

"Too tight" I breathed out and she finally let me go, "How long have I been asleep?" I asked looked around the room for any sign of the day.

"Three days" Melanie explained. Three days, I'd been out for three days, what the hell had happened, all I remembered was Connor, and then it all came rushing back.

"Connor fucking shot me!" I yelled and tried to get up out of bed, the anger that was coursing through my veins was numbing the pain in my stomach. I ripped the IV out of my arm and tried to steady myself on my feet, but as soon as I placed all my weight on my legs I fell to the ground, "Damnit!" I yelled and pounded my hand on the ground of the hospital room.

"Cassidy, oh god, nurse, somebody help" Melanie ran to the door to my room and yelled out. I growled to myself at the fact that I was so helpless and needed someone to help me, as soon as I was able to leave this hospital I was going to give Connor a piece of my mind. As soon as the nurse hoisted me back onto the bed and put in another IV she gave me something to calm me down and I immediately drifted off into sleep. They must have continued to give me medication because I was in and out of sleep for the next few days. One day I was in a haze and I heard someone pull back the curtain used for privacy, I opened my eyes and it was hard for me to see anything, but I could see that it was a man, but before I could try and get a better look sleep consumed me again. Once again I was woken up by the sound of the curtain moving and I opened my eyes and saw flowers on the table next to my bed. I glanced to see just who had placed them there and I swear I recognized the jacket that the man was wearing, I immediately jumped out of bed and reached to rip out the IV once again, but was surprised when there wasn't one there. I steadied myself on my feet and raced out of my room.

"Connor!" I yelled and just as I had suspected he turned around and glanced at me, "You son of a bitch, get back here" I yelled and started to run after him. Connor just slowly walked into the elevator and looked down at his feet after making eye contact with me. I pounded my hand on the doors of the elevator in frustration and cussed at Connor.

"Cassidy what are you doing out here?" Melanie asked grabbing onto my shoulders and leading me back to my room.

"Connor, he was here" I told her and she looked at me confused.

"Cassidy I just came in, I didn't see Connor anywhere" Melanie explained and I shook my head.

"Wait, he brought flowers come on I'll show you" I grabbed onto her hand and practically dragged her the rest of the way to my room, but when we arrived there were no flowers on the table, "They were right here when I woke up" I pleaded with her and looked around.

"Cassidy I think you need to sit down, you've been in and out of it for two days, you're brain is probably a little scrambled" Melanie guided me over to the small chair in my room and I sat down with a sigh.

"He was here Mel, I know he was here" I shook my head trying to make myself believe what I was saying.

"Here have some water" Melanie handed me a glass of water and I immediately pushed it away.

"I don't need any damn water, I need to get out of this place and find Connor, he is going to pay for shooting me" I growled and stood up to grab my clothes and headed to the bathroom, "I need some time alone, I'll call you back in when I'm ready" I nodded towards the door to my room and Melanie got the hint and walked out of the room. As soon as I was dressed I walked out of the bathroom and went to inspect my chart. I had taken a few medical classes in college just for the hell of it so most of the stuff made sense to me, I looked down and saw that the bullet hadn't done too much damage, but under the other category down at the bottom it read miscarriage. I practically dropped the clipboard on the floor, but I steadied myself against the bed and looked for further proof. Under the previous conditions under blood work it said what I had feared, 'three weeks pregnant' this time I did drop the clipboard and I immediately placed a hand on my stomach where the bullet hole was. Melanie rushed in at the sudden sound and looked at me concerned

"Did you know about this?" I asked picking up the clipboard with a groan and shoving it into her hands.

"I don't know what you want me to look at" Melanie glanced over the sheet and found nothing too out of the ordinary.

"Right there, did they tell you I was pregnant, and that because Connor fucking shot me, I miscarried" I pointed to the two places she needed to look at and he eyes grew wide.

"Cassidy I'm so sorry" She reached out to put a hand on my shoulder but I immediately stepped away. I wasn't upset about losing the child that would never be, I was more upset that Connor had been the cause of both of it. It seemed like Connor was always there to either ruin my life or make it better, today it was to ruin it.

"Stop, don't do that, I don't want pitty, I don't want remorse, it's better off this way, plus, me as a mom can you believe that" I laughed and Melanie continued to look at me very confused.

"Cassidy you're ok with this?" She asked and I nodded, I had never been one to really want a family, I had always been independent and I liked it, I had to admit though, that there was a part of me that wanted to see Connor as a father, but just not right now.

"Of course, now where are my discharge papers because I need to go kick Connor's ass for getting me pregnant and then shooting me" I smirked and started to walk out of the room.

"Cassidy, Connor didn't shoot you" I turned and looked at Melanie shocked.

"But he was standing there and then there was a shot, he had to of done it" I was very confused. It was then that I remembered when I had actually gotten shot, the pain that had ripped through me had come from behind me not in front.

"It was Blake" I looked up at Melanie and she nodded her head, I had blamed Connor for something he hadn't done. "I need to go, go and get my discharge papers we need to leave now" I pushed on knowing that if Blake wanted me dead he would try his best to do it, plus I needed to talk to Connor, try and explain everything, obviously he had wanted to kill me that night, but someone else had beat him to it, plus I had some other news to tell him.

"Cassidy, Blake was killed that night, Connor and Murphy killed him" Melanie informed me, and that made me want to get out of the hospital all that more fast. If Connor had already killed Blake he would be focused back on me and I wanted to talk to him before he tried to kill me again, hopefully what I had to say would change his mind.

"Melanie, discharge papers now!" I demanded and walked into the room to gather my things. I grabbed all my things off the table and just happened to look down into the trashcan and there were the flowers Connor had brought me, I frowned at the fact that they were in the trash, but shrugged it off. When I emerged there was a nurse standing there with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Miss Morelli, you are not clear to leave yet" She glared at me not happy that I was taking matters into my own hands.

"I don't give a damn, I say I'm ready to leave, so I'm leaving, good day to you ma'am" I nodded as I finished speaking and left the room, "Come on Mel" I called to her and she followed after me as we made our way to the elevators.

"Cassidy, are you sure you should be doing this, the doctors know what's best for you" Melanie tried to convince me to stay but I wasn't having any of that, I was determined to push through the pain and get what I wanted, and what I wanted was to see Connor. As much as I was dreading seeing Connor after everything that had happened, I still felt that he was my comfort zone, he wouldn't let anything happen to me, granted he tried to kill me not to long ago, but deep down inside I still felt for him. On the outside I was furious with him and he with me, but I was hoping that just like me he still cared for me in some small part of his mind.

**A/N: So wow, who saw that coming? Not me! What will Connor do when everything comes out? Yikes! Hope you enjoyed it! Song for this chapter/story shall be Don't Go Away by: Buckcherry. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for the reviews! And thank you **** for the lovely message again. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	34. Chapter 34

Connor's POV

"How ya doin' Murph'" I asked walking back into the apartment. Murphy had been shot that night at the abandoned warehouse and he was still battling with the aftermath.

"Good, where were ya at?" Murphy asked and I avoided his eyes as I walked over to my bed and sat down, "Connor" He pushed and I growled.

"Went ta go see Cassidy, wanted ta make sure she was still alive, after all what's da fun in killin' 'er after she's already dead" I faked a laugh and Murphy eyed me suspiciously. I had to admit I was quite worried about Cassidy that night she had been shot, I was still furious about her being the mob boss, but I couldn't help what was trying to break free deep down inside my mind. I cared about her and the look in her eyes when she had been shot, she thought it was me, there was hurt and surprise in her eyes and all I could do was stand there and watched her drop to the ground. I had to stay strong, I had to stick to my original plan, I hated her and that was that. I didn't tell Murphy that after I had gone to the hospital to see Cassidy I went to the church and prayed for her, there was a tiny part of my brain that told me that was the right thing to do, she had broken my hard exterior and that wound was still open so I prayed that she would be ok, if not for her sake then for mine. I needed to get back to normal things and that included being a stone wall, and my recovery was going to start with her.

"Sure" Murphy finally said not believing in what I was telling him.

"Shut the fuck up" I grumbled and leaned back on my bed.

"Why can't ya jus' admit ya care 'bout 'er still?" I looked over at Murphy and glared at him, he would never understand my logic. I was unforgiving when it came to things like this and I wasn't about to change my streak all for a damn girl.

"Connor, jus' forgive 'er already, isn't bein' shot punishment enough, you need ta fuckin' quit tryin' ta push everybody away 'nd fuckin' deal with ya shit" He leaned on his arm and looked at me.

"Well I don' see ya goin' and tryin' to smooth tings over wit Melanie" I retorted and Murphy went silent. Things had been a little rocky lately for Murphy and Melanie, she had been over several times to check on him and baby him, but she was also very occupied with Cassidy so it was hard for them to have any time together. I thought it was funny that Melanie was still mad at me and not Murphy for not helping her with Cassidy after everything was said and done, figures that the brother always gets the blame.

"She's busy 'nd I'm respectin' 'er space, unlike you wit Cassidy, one of des times ya go 'nd see 'er she's gonna catch ya" Murphy pushed himself up off his bed and started to walk around the room stretching out his leg. I had helped sew up his wound and cauterize it while he did the same to the flesh wound on my arm, both would leave a nasty scare, but it beat trying to explain gun shot wounds at the hospital.

"Ya keep tellin' yaself dat my brudder" I laughed and Murphy just waved me off as he continued to walk around the room.

"Ya know I'm sicka bein' da one dat follows ya 'round all da time, I'm tellin' ya, ya need ta get your shit togeder or else, quit tryin' ta always be da 'ardass, 'ave a 'eart for once, I've followed ya stupid plans throughout the years 'nd I'm puttin' my foot down on dis one, give it up" Murphy scoffed and continued to go about his business. It was strange for my brother to be attacking me like this, sure we fought and stuff, but he never tried to take charge like that and tell me what to do. Sure, I was used to him critiquing my plans, but never had he told me to completely abandon them, he always helped me refine them, I knew deep down inside that he was probably right, but I was so thick headed that I didn't want to believe it.

Melanie's POV

Cassidy and I had made our way out of the hospital and were driving home, it was very weird in the car everything was very silent and it was uber uncomfortable. Cassidy claimed that she wanted to go home and change clothes before she went over to talk to Connor, but felt like that was a cover for her to get dressed up and try to win Connor over. While Cassidy was in the hospital I had been running around like a chicken with my head cut off so it was nice that she would finally be home and I could focus my attention back on Murphy. Murphy was always on the back of my mind, I was constantly worried about him especially after he was shot in the leg, it was by far the scariest thing I had ever witnessed besides Cassidy, that scared me as well. I tried to talk Murphy into going to the hospital a few days after he was shot, but he informed me that the wound was already stitched, little did I know that the surgeon Connor MacManus had done a bang up job, they would both have matching burn scars because they were so stubborn. I had spent several days over at the apartment while Cassidy was asleep and Connor seemed very distant even when Murphy or I tried to talk to him, granted I very rarely spoke to him because I was still extremely pissed at him for everything he had done to Cassidy, and after the news today I was very conflicted about how I felt about Connor. As soon as we got to the house I helped Cassidy up the stairs as she hollered curse words with every step, I stopped myself from saying 'I told you so' because that would only make things worse. When she was locked away in her room I crossed the hall and walked into my own room and took out my cellphone, it was time to check on Murphy and see how he was doing.

"Hello?" Murphy answered his phone and he sounded frustrated.

"Murph', is everything ok?" I asked concerned. He sighed heavily before he responded.

"Connor's jus' bein' difficult" He groaned, sometimes Connor could be more of a hazard than he was help.

"What did he do this time?" I asked not knowing if I wanted the answer.

"Nothin', jus' still hell bent on killin' ya cousin" Murphy raised his voice towards the end and I could tell he was taking a stab at Connor who must have been in the room.

"Well Cassidy is planning on coming over to talk to him now" I informed him and the other line went silent.

"She's out of da 'ospital?" He asked and I responded telling him yes, "Ya 'ear dat Conn, she's out" Murphy was speaking to Connor trying to get him to not go through with his crazy plan.

"Murph' you might want to get out of there before she comes over, she has some crazy news to tell Connor" I explained, I didn't necessarily want to tell him what had happened to Cassidy, that was her business, but I still felt like I needed to get him out of the line of fire.

"Okay" He said and I could hear the uneasiness in his voice, "Connor, I'm gonna go meet wit Mel, you stay 'ere 'nd don' do anyting" Murphy said before I heard him leave the room.

"That wasn't suspicious sounding at all" I spoke and I heard Murphy groan.

"So what bomb is Cassidy 'bout ta drop on me brudder?" Murphy asked and I had to bite my tongue.

"I can't tell you, it's her business, if she wants me to tell you then I will, but until then just let it be, I just wanted you out of there because who knows how it will go" I explained and I felt like Murphy was understanding that I was being serious and he respected my request.

"So, ya want me ta come over?" He asked and I smiled into the phone.

"Of course" We finished our conversation with our goodbyes and I closed my phone and stepped back out of my room just as Cassidy was coming out of her own.

"How ya feeling?" I asked as she winced in pain.

"Like I was hit by a mack truck" She grumbled and started down the stairs, she had changed her clothes and she surprisingly looked good for just being shot a few days ago. I followed her down the stairs and I frowned when she went to the liquor cabinet.

"Cassidy, do you really think now is the time for a drink?" I asked and she just smirked.

"Drinking doesn't have a specific time and place, plus I'm just grabbing my gun, ya never know with Connor whether I'm going to need it" She laughed to herself but immediately found out that, that wasn't a good idea, "Though a drink doesn't sound to bad when you think about the pain I'm in" She grabbed a bottle of whiskey and took a swig, not even bothering to use a glass.

"Oh, how lady like" I retorted and she just glared at me playfully.

"It's not nice to judge" She smirked.

"I'm so glad to have you back, and you are finally back to your normal self" I hugged her and she immediately tried to push me away.

"Ow" She called out grabbing at her side.

"Sorry" I covered my mouth and winced myself, I had forgotten she was still wounded, "Thinking you probably needed to stay in the hospital now don't you" I smirked to myself knowing that I was right all along.

"Nope" She took a deep breath and held it in as she walked towards the door, "Can't feel a thing" She said in a strained voice as she still held her breath.

"Cassidy" I called before she opened the door, she turned and looked at me finally letting her breath out, "Be careful" I said softly, her face suddenly softened and she walked back to me and hugged me gently, I tried my best to hug her back just as soft.

"I love you Mel" She whispered in my ear and then released me. Cassidy wasn't one for openly admitting she loved anyone, even her own flesh and blood, so when she told me that and left the house I was immediately worried that something bad was going to happen when she went to see Connor.

Connor's POV

Murphy had left about twenty minutes ago and I was just laying in bed trying to clear my mind of all the things he said, sometimes he was like a mind ninja, he just said things that stuck in my mind and played over and over again. Cassidy was able to do that too, she both said and did things that haunted my memory. I still remembered the first time I met her and how she was feisty and tried to step on my boot so I would let her go, then she was terrified for her life, but then the next minute she was looking into my eyes and it was like she was looking into my soul. I would never forget that look, she had so many emotions going through her eyes, but the one thing that drew me to her was her pride and determination, she wasn't the type of person to lie down and take it, she was a fighter just like me. After that I felt compelled to see more of her, the quarrels we had were fun for both me and her, and when we added sex to the mix, now that was worth it. I didn't regret not killing her that night, I was glad I didn't, somehow I knew that night when she looked into my eyes, that we were going to be seeing a lot more of each other, and I had looked forward to it since that night. Now I was laying in bed trying to push the thoughts my brother planted about forgiving her and moving on with my life, but another part of my brain was still hell bent on killing her for everything she had done, not to mention she was the mob boss. Everything I stood for was being challenged and I found myself questioning my morals, all over a dumb girl. I was deep in thought and my mind was racing, never in my life had I been so conflicted about where to go and what to do, Cassidy had been a wrench that was thrown into my life and now I was trying to figure out if I wanted to throw it back or keep if forever. My thoughts were soon interrupted by a soft knock at the door, for a second I thought I was hearing thing, but I slowly got out of bed and made my way to the door. When I opened the door I was shocked to see Cassidy standing there, she was holding her side and trying to catch her breath after running up all the stairs. I was consumed by many emotions, but the two that were at the forefront were joy and anger, I wanted so much to just embrace her because she was alive and ok, but I also wanted to take her because of her occupation and deceit.

"Hello Connor, can I come in?" She asked and I stood there completely frozen not knowing what to do.

**A/N: Bum Bum Bum! What shall happen next, is she going to tell him, or will she chicken out? What will be his reaction? Man this story is going crazy! Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter shall be Another Way to Die by: Disturbed. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for the reviews, love my readers! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	35. Chapter 35

Cassidy's POV

I was standing there in the hallway waiting for Connor to let me in, but he was frozen in place and he wouldn't look at me.

"Connor?" I questioned and he finally woke up out of his strange trance.

"Yea, come in" He stepped aside and I walked past him into the middle of the apartment.

"So, I was informed today that you weren't the one that shot me, when I woke up this morning and saw you, I was furious, I was originally going to come over here and yell at you and scream and possibly threaten you, but I don't really have the physical capacity to do that" I said and lifted up my shirt showing the bandage that was wrapped all around my body. Connor barely looked at me as I spoke, it was like he was in a completely different world, battling with something internally.

"So why 're ya 'ere now?" He asked not making eye contact with me, but at least looking in my general direction.

"Well for one, I wanted to thank you for taking care of Blake for me, Melanie told me that you and Murphy killed him at the end of it all, sorry I couldn't stay conscious to see it" I laughed lightly but still winced at the pain in my side. At that moment I remembered the other reason I had come over and I was having second thoughts about telling him, but I felt like he really needed to know.

"Listen, I know you hate me, and I know you want to kill me, and I'm sure you will have your chance again, at least let me heal first just in case you miss" I smiled, but Connor wasn't in a joking mood and I immediately continued on, "Connor, there is something I need to tell you" I paused and Connor didn't look up at me didn't even look in my direction he just stared at the wall over by the shower.

"Connor, I was reading my chart this morning and there's something I think you might want to know" I paused again, I was terrified to tell him, I was so afraid he would react negatively or freak out like he had when I told him I was the boss. Connor continued to stare off at the wall and it was beginning to make me very angry. I shook my head and decided not to tell him and headed for the door, as soon as my hand touched the doorknob Connor spoke up.

"What is it?" He asked and I turned around to see concern on his face, I tried to hold back the tears that wanted to spill out of my eyes, I had been begging for him to look at me like that and he finally had.

"I was pregnant when I got shot" I immediately dropped my head and avoided making eye contact with Connor, I was trying to be tough and hold it together, I had no idea that when I actually told him I would be this emotional. I took deep breaths and finally mustered the courage to look up at Connor and I couldn't quite figure out which emotion his face was showing.

"Was?" He questioned and he sounded distant, like he was no longer in his body and I felt like weeping at the solemn sound of his voice.

"The bullet caused me to miscarry, I was only three weeks along, not a big deal, but I felt like you should know" I nodded my head before turning to walk out the door again. I took a deep breath before reaching for the doorknob again, but was suddenly stopped by Connor grabbing onto my shoulder and spinning me around. He immediately embraced me in a very tight hug and I ignored the stabbing pain that was coursing through my body. I nuzzled my head into his chest and took a deep breath, it had been so long since I had been this close to him and I had almost forgotten what he smelled like.

"I missed you" I mumbled into his chest and let a few tears fall from my eyes, I wasn't sure if he had forgiven me or not, but I wasn't about to push him away, even though I was mad at him about not helping me with Melanie, I needed him right now. Connor was silent as he held onto me and I just enjoyed the embrace until he pulled me away from him.

"Connor, say something" I looked up at his face and I could see the hint of a tear that was threatening to fall. Tough men did cry. I reached up and quickly wiped it away and then rested my hand on his face, he leaned into my touch and I smiled up at him. When he finally made eye contact with me I saw the love in his eyes, it was rare to see, but his eyes were practically glowing blue and I felt like we were finally back to where we were before, but much closer.

"I missed ya too" He said quietly and I barely heard him, but he looked down at me and I knew I had heard him right. Connor smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back, I was so glad to finally be back with him, after everything that happened I just wanted someone to hold me and finally here he was.

"I'm sorry" I looked down at my feet, but Connor brought his hand up and placed it under my chin and moved my head so I was looking at him.

"What 're ya sorry for?" He asked genuinely confused.

"For not telling you about the boss thing, I wanted to, I knew you would find out eventually, I didn't want it to happen that way, but I needed you, you were the only one I could think of that could help" I rambled on and was finally cut off my Connor placing a soft kiss on my lips. I swore my legs felt like jello at the touch of his skin on mine and I was on the verge of falling to the ground before he finally broke away.

"What was that for?" I asked smirking up at him.

"Jus' 'cause" I chuckled lightly to myself, Connor MacManus kissed me just because.

"But seriously though, I am sorry, in my defense you were hell bent on killing the boss, that scared me a little bit" I confessed and Connor picked me up bridal style and took me over to his bed so we were no longer standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, "I also never sold you out, my boys have been looking for you ever since you killed my father and I haven't told them anything, not where you live, where you frequent, what busses you ride, the people you know, nothing" I finally looked over at Connor and he was just studying me.

"Are you going to say something" I sat up a little bit and winced while looking at him.

"I'm sorry" Connor spoke and I knew that was hard for him to say. I knew that everything that had happened since I walked in the door was hard for Connor, but he was finally stepping up and being the man that I hoped he could sometimes be.

"What are you sorry for, I'm the one that lied to you, and sent henchmen after you" I smiled. Connor pushed me back so I would stop wincing in pain and laid down next to me and propped himself up on his one elbow.

"I'm sorry I dint let ya explain, dat I dint help ya wit Mel, if I woulda gone 'nd helped ya then ya wouldn't have gotten shot, 'nd ya wouldnta lost the kid" Connor looked down at my stomach and I made him look at me again.

"Don't blame yourself, don't ever blame yourself, this was meant to be Connor, it wasn't the right time, I don't know if there will ever be a right time for that in my life, I'm sorry to say it, but I'm glad it happened, if only because it brought me closer to you" I smiled and Connor was looking at me strangely.

"Ya don' want kids?" He asked and I felt like I had hit a nerve.

"Connor, can you seriously see me as a mother, I was just shot a few days ago, and you are a vigilante killer, we wouldn't be the best of parents, not to mention the fact we have only been together for maybe a month" I frowned, I hated to burst Connor's bubble, but he couldn't honestly think that if I had not been shot that I would have gone through with the pregnancy. I watched Connor carefully and I couldn't quite read his body language.

"You are never a man of few words, speak your mind" I demanded and Connor smirked at my forcefulness.

"You'd be a great mom" Connor paused, "I've never been da one ta really tink I'd 'ave a family besides my brudder, but-" Connor trailed off and I so desperately wanted him to finish that sentence.

"But what Connor" I looked at him and batted my eyelashes.

"Wit ya, maybe it could happen" I had to keep my jaw from hitting the floor, Connor MacManus thought he could start a family with me, I was beyond shocked.

"What are you saying Connor?" I asked not fully getting the meaning of his statement.

"I'm sayin' dat I care 'bout ya 'nd nothin' will change dat, ya mine 'nd I'm ok wit dat forever" Connor finished and I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks, I could tell that he wasn't comfortable talking about these things, but I was glad that he was saying them.

"I care about you too Connor" I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. It was amazing, the last time I had seen Connor he was yelling at me to get out of his apartment and now we were laying in his bed talking about us, talk about complete opposites.

"'re ya feelin' ok, I mean after everytin'?" Connor asked and looked down at my stomach again, I figured he was referring to both the bullet wound and the miscarriage.

"Yea, but being shot is a pain in my side" I laughed through the pain and Connor shook his head and smiled.

"Always makin' jokes Morelli" He continued to smile and I couldn't help but want to crawl in and stay with him in his bed forever.

"I'm really glad you took all the news so well" I confessed and he looked down at me confused.

"What did ya expect me ta do?" He asked and I shrugged my shoulders before speaking.

"Yell, shove me, run away and hide, be silent, I don't know, I was surprised you were as accepting as you were" He eyed me suspiciously and then laughed to himself.

"Dint know I was full of real emotions now did ya" Connor poked me in my good side and I couldn't help but giggle, everything we were doing was so out of character for us, but it felt so right. I heaved a sigh of relief and then stifled a yawn, I hadn't realized how tired I was until the adrenaline that had escalated when I was telling Connor about the miscarriage had worn off.

"Why don't ya go ta sleep, I'll watch over ya" Connor grabbed the blanket and pulled it up over me, he then reached down and pulled off my shoes and socks and then laid back down next to me. I instinctively snuggled up to him in a position that didn't hurt me and tried my best to fall asleep. It took a while, but Connor finally relaxed under my touch and I finally drifted off into sleep. I startled awake several times, reliving the horror of being shot, but Connor did his best to wrangle me and calm me down and was able to get me back to sleep several times. I was just glad to be near him, I didn't care what I was doing, just as long as he was there.

Melanie's POV

Murphy had been over for a few hours and Cassidy still hadn't come home, I was so afraid that Connor had killed her or something, or that she was hurt because of her gun shot wound.

"Mel, what's wrong?" Murphy asked and I snapped out of my dream world and focused back on him.

"Oh, nothing" I tried to play if off, but Murphy was not convinced.

"Mel, ya bite ya lip when ya'r tryin' ta 'ide somethin'" Murphy informed me and I stopped immediately and groaned to myself.

"I can't say anything" I confessed and tried to get my mind onto other things.

"Mel" Murphy pushed and it was beginning to be very hard to resist his face when he looked at me like that.

"Cassidy was pregnant when she was shot and lost the baby and she went to tell Connor and I'm afraid that something happened or he killed her or I don't know, I'm worried" I was practically speaking a mile a minute and when I finally glanced up to look at Murphy he looked utterly shocked.

**A/N: Now Murphy knows, hmmmm interesting. Connor being sweet, how cute! Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter is Love Me Tender by: Elvis Presley. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover _**and **_Sissymac_** for the reviews. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	36. Chapter 36

Melanie's POV

"Murphy, say something, you are starting to scare me" Murphy continued to sit there shocked not really showing any other emotions or movement.

"He wouldn't hurt her would her, Murphy, fucking look at me" I yelled and I finally go Murphy's attention. It was like he had drifted off into a strange world where my voice had vanished into the background, because he looked around confused after I snapped him out of it.

"I'm sorry, did ya jus' say Cassidy is pregnant?" Murphy questioned and I groaned very audibly.

"You weren't listening were you, typical man to tune out after the word pregnant" I scoffed and Murphy looked up at me surprised, "She _was _pregnant, the bullet made her miscarry" I explained once again and Murphy nodded to himself.

"Maybe we should go check on 'em, I'm not really sure what my brudder would do wit dat news" Murphy stood up and grabbed my hand before walking out of the house.

Connor's POV

Cassidy was still sleeping peacefully and I decided to get up and grab a glass of water, I was slightly concerned that she had been asleep for so long and hadn't really moved, but I assumed that she needed the sleep.

"Connor?" I heard Cassidy croak out in a sleepy voice and I turned around to see her eyes flutter open.

"I'm right 'ere" I said taking a step towards her with my glass of water in my hand, "Ya want some water?" I asked and she nodded slightly. I walked over and helped her sit up before handing her the glass of water.

"Thanks" She smiled and handed the glass back to me.

"Ya sleep good?" I asked and once again she nodded, she wasn't very talkative and it was starting to concern me, "Everyting ok?" I asked and Cassidy just looked up at me confused.

"Yea" She smiled softly and started to get up but was stopped by the immense pain that was caused by the bullet wound.

"Want some 'elp?" I asked.

"No, I'm fine" She grumbled and I couldn't help but laugh to myself at her determination.

"Something funny MacManus" She scowled at me and it only made me laugh harder.

"Nope" I shook my head and tried to hide my smile.

"That's what I thought" She smirked and tried her best to stretch without pulling out the stitches on her side. The happy mood that had fallen over the room was soon stopped by the look I saw on Cassidy's face.

"Is this really happening right now, did I get shot, miscarry, and everything is ok, I feel like all of this" She pointed from me to her, "Can't be real" She looked genuinely conflicted by everything that was going on.

"Sadie" I began and she looked at me and I thought she was going to burst into tears, "What's wrong, is it someting I said?" I questioned confused and took a step towards her.

"Nothing" She took a deep breath and then composed herself again, "It all happened, time to move on" She buried whatever she had previously felt and put on a brave face.

"Ya don' 'ave ta do dat" I stated and she shifted her gaze onto me and she looked offended.

"It's what I do, you don't like it then you can fuck off" And finally Cassidy was back to her normal self, at least the normal hard exterior self.

"Well dere's always dat option" I smirked and Cassidy slightly laughed and sneered at me.

"Maybe some other time" She acted like I was just some common guy and waved her hand in the air and started for the door.

"How 'bout now" I whispered in her ear before gently pushing her back on the wall behind the door and kissing her roughly, I tried to control my hands from dropping to her waist so that I didn't cause her any pain, but it was a losing battle. She whimpered in pain into the kiss and when I tried to pull back and stop she grabbed onto my shirt and pulled me closer to her. I was surprised when Cassidy deepened the kiss by trailing her tongue against my lips and I immediately parted my own to allow her access. Out of nowhere I was pushed up against Cassidy by a force from behind me and I used my hands the keep from completely crushing Cassidy. She looked up at me shocked and we both looked behind me to see Murphy and Melanie walking through the door.

"Talk about a mood kill" I grumbled to Cassidy before planting one last kiss on her lips and turning to face my brother and his girlfriend.

"So what brings ya two 'ere on dis lovely day?" I asked sarcastically while glaring at my brother hoping he would get the idea.

"We just wanted to make sure you hadn't killed Cassidy" Melanie spoke up and the words that came out of her mouth immediately pissed me off. I went to step forward and say something arrogant and insulting, but Cassidy placed her hand on my shoulder and stepped in front of me.

"As you can see, I'm fully alive and well, no need to worry" She tilted her head slightly as she spoke to Melanie motioning for her to move over to the corner of the room so they could talk. As soon as Cassidy and Melanie were talking Murphy walked over to me and cleared his throat.

"So, everyting is fine?" He asked eyeing me suspiciously.

"Yea" I looked at him confused trying to figure out why he was acting so strangely, "Ya know don' ya?" I asked and Murphy immediately stiffened and pretended not to know anything.

"Know what?" He asked and I growled to myself.

"Ya can't lie ta me Murph', ya know 'bout Cass don' ya?" I asked and he nodded.

"Ya ok wit dat?" Murphy tilted his head and watched me carefully, I figured he was making sure that he hadn't pissed me off.

"Oh now ya 're gonna play the timid brudder, what 'appened to da badass dat told me ta get my shit togeder earlier?" I retorted and Murphy just shrugged.

"Checked out for a bit" We both smiled at his remark and I figured the earlier conversation had been lost, "So ya glad not ta be a da?" Murphy asked and I hadn't actually processed it that much and when I actually thought about it, I was glad that all of this happened. I may not want a little snot gobbler now, but maybe someday.

"Ya could say dat" I hit Murphy in the shoulder and we returned to our ladies.

Cassidy's POV

"Talk about a major cock block" I groaned at Melanie and her eyes got wide.

"Cassidy Morelli!" She said shocked.

"Yes mother" I rolled my eyes and then we both laughed.

"So you told him?" She asked and I glanced over my shoulder to see Connor and Murphy talking, so I could talk confidently with my cousin.

"Yea, and he surprisingly took it really well, at first I thought he was mad about me being here and such, but then he softened up" I paused and glanced over my shoulder again. When I turned back to Melanie I leaned in to talk to her just in case Connor could over hear, "He told me he thinks that he would want to have a family with me at some point" I shook my head after I spoke, "Clearly he doesn't know who I am" I laughed to myself, but Melanie was staring at in astonishment.

"Cassidy, that was a really guy-like way of saying he loves you" She silently squealed and jumped up and down.

"No, we are nowhere near that, you and Murphy are much more compatible and it makes sense that you guys would say it when you did, I'm not even sure that those words even exist in Connor's vocabulary" I scoffed.

"What words don' exist in my vocabulary?" Connor asked walking up behind me and I immediately froze and tried to think of some lie, but I was at a loss for words. Melanie looked just as terrified as he looked from my face to Connor's, but she was no help at all.

"None, you are a man of all words" I shoved him back away from me, not feeling comfortable with him that close to me when his brother and Melanie were in the room. Neither of us were really accustomed to an audience like Melanie and Murphy were, I couldn't decide if I was envious of that or not. I looked back at Connor and he gave me look that meant we were going to talk about that later and I sighed to myself. Leave it to Connor to always see through my lies, well not all of them.

Melanie's POV

We all awkwardly stood in the apartment just looking at each other not knowing what to say. I knew Cassidy was and that we had interrupted her and Connor, but in my opinion, she didn't need to be doing that after miscarrying and being shot, both should have been a lesson for her to stay away from Connor. The fact that she was still drawn to him showed just how much she cared for him. I glanced over at Murphy and cleared my throat trying to give him the signal that maybe we should leave.

"I tink Mel 'nd I 're gonna go down ta McGinty's, ya can join if ya'd like" He offered and I could see Cassidy's eyes light up. Although my plan was to give them some more privacy I knew Cassidy really needed to get out after being in the hospital for so long.

"I'm coming" Cassidy announced with no regard to what Connor wanted to do. Murphy headed for the door and held it open as Cassidy and I walked out, as we walked down the stairs I looked to Cassidy and decided to pick up our conversation.

"So what else happened when you were here?" I asked.

"We talked a bit, and then I took a few hour nap" She explained and I could see a hint of pink rise in her cheeks.

"You're blushing, why are you blushing?" I pointed out getting really excited.

"It was nice, that's all" She confessed and I could see it in her eyes that she was much closer to Connor after everything that happened, I just wished that both of them could see just how perfect they were for each other.

"Mmhmm" I nodded my head and left it at that.

"Come on slow poke" Cassidy yelled up to Murphy, but was shocked when she saw Connor coming down the stairs, "So you decided to come, oh joy" She smirked and Connor narrowed his eyes at her.

"Keep it up and I'll give ya wound ta match on de udder side" Connor poked Cassidy in the side and she raced down the rest of the stairs to get away from him. It was so odd seeing Cassidy act like this, I had never seen her act like she did with Connor with any of her previous boyfriends and I liked seeing this side of her, I just hoped that when she went back to work she didn't let business interfere with play. Cassidy was the first to walk out of the building and I was shocked when she immediately slammed the door and I was unable to budge it. I leaned my head up against the door and tried to listen to what she was saying.

Cassidy' POV

As soon as I stepped out of the door to the apartment building I noticed a familiar face, Bruce, one of our tough guys walking towards the building.

"Bruce, what brings you here?" I asked and he stopped and crossed his arms across his chest and looked at me.

"I could ask you the same thing Miss Morelli, not a safe place to be after just being shot a few days ago" Bruce responded and I immediately drummed up a lie in my head and tried to raise my voice so Melanie would get the hint.

"Oh, Melanie and I were just visiting a friend that lives in the building" I explained and turned to open the door. Melanie stumbled out and looked at me shocked as I glanced up at Connor quickly trying to tell him with my eyes that he needed to get out of there.

"Those sure are a lot of stairs" Melanie pretended to be out of breath.

"So Bruce, you never answered my question" I pressed on and Bruce finally uncrossed his arms and looked at me with a softer expression on his face.

"Lead on the Saints, they are supposed to live in this building, so watch yourselves Miss Morelli and Miss O'Donnell" Bruce nodded his head to us and proceeded into the building, I just prayed that Connor got my silent message and had gone anywhere but back tot heir apartment.

"So what do we do know, how do we know if they are ok or not?" Melanie asked and I could see the worry on her face and hear the panic in her voice. Although I didn't show it on the outside I was mimicking her concerns internally and I prayed that the boys got out all right.

"Head to the bar like we planned, hopefully they will get the hint and meet us there" I nodded to myself to make the plan final and Melanie and I made our way down the street to McGinty's.

**A/N: So I hate to say it, but this will most likely be the last update until the 29****th**** of April, I know sad! But I have finals coming up and I really need to focus, I'm surprised that I have made it this far with this story while college is happening. Please bare with me and don't give up on the story, there is a lot more in store for the four of our friends, just give me time. There may be an occasional update, but I don't want to promise anything. Hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry about the sort of cliffhanger. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_**, **_Sissymac_**, and **_purenonsense_** for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	37. Chapter 37

**A/N: So I'm BAAAACCCCKKKK! Thanks for toughing out my finals, I survived and I'm more excited than ever to get back to this story, Enjoy!**

Cassidy's POV

Melanie and I walked into the bar and immediately went to the counter to order some drinks.

"Ah, Cassidy, what can I get ya?" Doc asked as we sat down on the bar stools.

"Water for me" I said and looked to Melanie waiting for her to order.

"Water, ya feelin' okay?" Doc asked as he grabbed a glass and the nozzle from below the counter.

"Well, I got a shiny new bandage, probably shouldn't be drinking" I lifted my shirt to show him that bandage covering my gunshot.

"Oh, no, Connor dint do dat did 'e?" Doc frowned and I couldn't help but laugh to myself.

"Connor wishes he could have done that" I smiled as I took the glass from Doc and he moved on to take Melanie's order.

"What do I wish I could 'ave done?" I heard a familiar voice coming from behind me and two arms wrapped around my waist as Connor leaned forward bringing his face into view.

"Oh, nothing" I smirked and he was clearly not amused. Connor took his seat next to me and ordered a beer.

"I'm so glad you are ok, I was so worried you would get caught" I over heard Melanie talking to Murphy and when I glanced in their direction they were in a very elaborate make-out session fueled by Melanie's anxiety. When I glanced back at Connor he had a very strange expression on his face and I couldn't help but laugh at the awkward moment.

"What 're ya laughin' bout?" Connor side glanced at me as he took a drink of his beer. I immediately lost my smile as everything hit me, my crew was getting closer to the Saints and it would be bad for me to be seen with them, I was suddenly very aware of my surroundings and everyone looked suspicious.

"Sadie?" Connor broke my paranoid concentration and I finally looked at him and relaxed a little bit.

"How did you get out without Bruce seeing you?" I asked curious as to how they had managed to get out and down to the bar.

"Race up da stairs and down da fire escape" Connor shrugged and smirked at his genius plan.

"I'm just glad you got my message when I looked at you" I took a sip of my water and wrinkled up my nose, this was not really what I wanted to drink, "Hey Doc, I'll take a beer instead" I smirked and he immediately brought me one.

"'re ya sure dats a good idea?" Connor asked and I glared at him before taking a drink.

"Don't go too soft on me MacManus" I laughed lightly, it was becoming easier to manage the pain so I could actually laugh and live instead of wincing every time I spoke. Connor turned back to his beer and got a very serious look on his face, I could tell everything was really difficult for Connor, but he tried his best to not let it show. He allowed me tiny glimpses of the inner Connor, the normal human being Connor, and as much as I liked that Connor, that wasn't the Connor I fell in love with. I halted my thoughts at that moment as I retraced what I had just said, it wasn't true, I didn't love Connor, sure I liked him and he was great in bed, but it wasn't love. I turned to face Melanie to try and get my mind off of things, but the sight of her and Murphy was not helping my confused thoughts.

"I'll be right back, bathroom" I smiled and excused myself from the counter and headed towards the bathroom. As soon as I knew I was out of sight I made a left turn and headed for the door to the back alley, I needed some fresh air and an environment that didn't involve Connor. I paced back and forth trying to clear my head, it had to be the painkillers, or the left over hormones, or something, this wasn't love it couldn't be, I wouldn't allow it. I had better things to focus on besides my personal life, I had a Russian mob that was leaderless and they were very pissed at me, plus I had my own mob to run and the Saints to hunt down, even though I had already found them. I laughed to myself at that thought, the Saints had technically found me and ever since that night my life had been a grand adventure that I wanted to take a vacation from. I heaved an audible sigh and knew that there was only one way to stop the horror movie I had found myself in, I would have to yell fire in a crowded theatre.

Connor's POV

I watched Cassidy walk back to the bathroom and immediately focused my attention on Melanie and Murphy, they were so close to each other and they seemed so comfortable with it. I inwardly wished that things could be like that with Cassidy, but I knew I not she was that type of person, we liked our private lives to be private.

"Would ya two give it up already" I groaned and Murphy looked up at me and his cheeks immediately turned a shade of pink.

"Sorry" Melanie blushed as well and turned her attention back to the counter.

"So Cassidy tells me you took the news pretty well today, thanks for being such a good sport" Melanie stated and finally made eye contact with me and I was slightly shocked by her forwardness.

"I don' know why everyone tinks I woulda 'andled it differently" I shrugged not really getting the fact that everyone was shocked I was accepting of the news.

"Well Connor, you are a pretty unreadable man, hard to see just how you would react" This time it was Melanie's turn to shrug. I turned my attention back to my beer not really comfortable with the direction the conversation was going, to tell the truth I was more comfortable with them being all into each other. I glanced up towards the bathroom and didn't see Cassidy coming back and I was afraid something had happened.

"Hey Mel, can ya go check on Cassidy?" I asked and Melanie nodded before she got up and walked back to the bathrooms.

"Seem like ya 'nd Mel 'ave gotten awful close" I side glanced at my brother and he answered with a slight nod, "I'm 'appy for ya Murph'" I smiled and my brother looked at me like I was a complete stranger.

"Thanks Conn, dat means a lot" He smirked slightly and our brotherly moment was interrupted by Melanie returning to the counter.

"Cassidy isn't in the bathroom, are you sure that's where she said she was going?" Melanie asked and I looked at her puzzled, there wasn't really anywhere else for her to go, and then it dawned on me and I excused myself from the bar and headed for the alleyway.

Melanie's POV

I was so glad that Murphy had gotten out of the apartment complex ok, I was so worried about Bruce catching the boys and blowing everything we had worked so hard to get. I couldn't help but smile as I watched Murphy relax as he took a drink of his beer, never in my life did I ever think that I would find someone to be with, let alone someone like Murphy. We were two very different people, but we seemed to compliment each other perfectly.

"I am glad you are ok" I looked to Murphy and he nodded his head.

"Me too" He smirked and I leaned over and planted a soft kiss on his lips. It seemed like it had been months since we had actually been alone with each other, but in actuality it had only been a few days, but every second away from Murphy felt like days.

"Sorry I wasn't able to be around the past week" I dropped my head and Murphy immediately grabbed my chin and made me look at him.

"Don' apologize, I woulda done da same ting for my brudder, Cassidy is lucky to 'ave someone like ya watchin' over 'er" Murphy complimented, but I still felt bad for not being there for him when he was injured as well. I was also not very thrilled at the fact that he hadn't gone to a hospital because Connor's surgical job was going to leave a nasty scar on Murphy's leg, not to mention the pain he must have been in when he could have easily gotten painkillers.

"Yea" I smiled slightly, everything was so perfect and I wanted it to continue this way forever, but I knew that all good things had to come to an end and with Cassidy's people getting closer and closer to catching the Saints, we were treading into dangerous waters.

Cassidy's POV

I leaned up against the brick wall and closed my eyes trying to take deep breaths and get a hold of myself.

"Nice out 'ere" Connor's voice broke my concentration and all I wanted was to crawl into a hole and never emerge, I was so conflicted, but I knew what I needed to do in order to protect everyone before we got in too deep.

"Yea, stars are out" I looked up at the sky trying not to break down, I needed to be strong in order to move on with everything, I needed to shut down whatever force in my mind that thought I loved Connor and push on with business as usual. When I finally looked down Connor was staring at me concerned.

"What?" I asked trying my best to sound like my normal self, but even I could tell there was something wrong by the tone of my voice.

"Sadie, what's goin' on, why ya out 'ere in da first place?" Connor finally asked and I sighed to myself, he was making this so much harder than it needed to be. I was kicking myself for going to see him today, I should have listened to the doctor and stayed in the hospital, I should have never gone to him all those time I was drawn to him, I should have never slept with him out of rage, and I should have never begged for my life that night he put a gun to my head, things could be so different now, and I wished they were.

"Connor, what is this?" I asked gesturing between him and I. Connor looked at me and tilted his head not really getting my question, "What are we, what are we doing, what is this?" I asked trying to make my question better understood while not making eye contact with him.

"Dis is two people who 'ave feelin's for each udder" Connor took a step towards me and this made me meet his gaze. I could see the confusion in his eyes and I was at a loss for words.

"We aren't like Mel and Murph, we don't know how to do this, we can't do this, we aren't going to do this" I was thinking out loud and as I spoke I realized that everything was true, but I so badly wanted it not to be true, but my mind was overriding my heart.

"What 'appened to da girl dat was in my apartment dis mornin', because dis isn't 'er" Connor spoke and his voice and words were breaking my heart, I knew this was the right thing to do at the moment, but it didn't mean it was easy to do.

"She woke up from whatever dream she was living in where you and I are actually together, the scare I faced this morning when I read my chart was a wake up call Connor, we could have been in big trouble, we dodged a bullet there" I nodded to myself trying to make everything make sense in my head.

"Ya might 'ave dodged a bullet, but ya dint warn me bout da aftershock" Connor growled and I saw his jaw clench, he was beginning to get frustrated and I was slightly shocked that this was the way he was reacting.

"Connor listen" I started and Connor just shook his head.

"Ta tink I had forgiven ya for what ya did before, ya can bet on me not bein' so nice next time" Connor ended our conversation and headed for the door, before he opened the door he glanced back at me and I saw the pain behind the fire in his eyes and I immediately regretted everything, I did love Connor and now he was out of my grasp once again. A tear fell from my eye before he turned back around and walked back into the bar, I had a sick feeling that I wasn't going to be able to bring him back from whatever dark place he was going to this time, I had lost him forever.

**A/N: So here it is, Chapter 37, took me long enough. Finals are all done and I am back to writing, granted I was a little lost when I started this chapter, but I think I have it figured out now. Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter is Baggage Claim by Miranda Lambert. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for the reviews, thanks for not giving up on the story! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	38. Chapter 38

Melanie's POV

Murphy and I were talking at the bar when Connor came walking towards us and instead of stopping he walked right out of the bar and Murphy looked at me confused. Seconds later Cassidy came charging towards us and she looked angry and upset.

"Cassidy, what is going on?" I asked jumping up and walking over to her.

"It's time to go Melanie" Cassidy stated and started for the door, not waiting for me to catch up with her. I looked to Murphy and told him to wait here and I raced out of the bar and caught up with Cassidy.

"What the hell happened?" I demanded and Cassidy sniffled before looking to me with a stern look on her face.

"Business, I'm going home, stay if you want, but be warned, you can't have a happy ending with him" Cassidy nodded towards the bar and then continued to walk towards her car while I was left standing there confused by what she had said. I made my way back into the bar and looked to Murphy for some sort of answer, but he just shook his head and placed his phone back into his pocket.

"Did you get a hold of Connor?" I asked sitting back down at the bar and turning to face Murphy.

"No, went ta voicemail" Murphy replied and I took a second to think.

"Cassidy seemed broken, what do you think happened?" I asked and Murphy just shrugged his shoulders, "Seems we can never have normalcy in our lives" I sighed and Murphy reached out and grabbed my hand on the bar. I looked up at him and I could see he was trying to make me feel better, but the words Cassidy had said to me were echoing in my mind, I would never have a happy ending with Murphy, I so hoped this wouldn't be true.

"I love you" I whispered softly looking down at the bar.

"I love ya too" Murphy whispered back and then placed a hand under my chin and made me look at me.

"Murphy, we're good right, me and you" I finally glanced up at him and he tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"Yea" Murphy said unsure of what to say to me.

"Good, let's keep it that way" I nodded my head sternly as a promise to myself that I would prove Cassidy wrong when it came to happy endings.

"I really should go 'nd check on Connor" Murphy finally stood up and took the last drink out of his beer.

"Are you sure you have to go?" I stood up with him and tugged on his shirt bringing him close to me.

"Well, ya can come wit if ya want" Murphy looked down into my eyes and I could tell I had him under my spell.

"I am very curious as to what happened between those two" I smiled wickedly as Murphy continued to look down at me.

"Then lets go" Murphy leaned down and kissed me before grabbing my hand and walking out of the bar. We walked down the sidewalk holding hands and it all seemed so surreal, I felt like I was in a dream, everything was good and I wasn't about to let Cassidy ruin that with her negative attitude.

Cassidy's POV

I continued to my car and once inside and broke down and let the tears run down my face, I wanted so badly to redo this whole day, or at least the last few hours. When I had finally got myself under control I started my car and headed to the Italian district. Melanie was obviously on the side of the saints, so the only other person that I could go to was my brother. I arrived at Joe's apartment complex and tried my best to fix my runny makeup in my rearview mirror. I made it to his door and I hesitated before knocking, I knew that if I went to him to talk I would have to tell him everything that had gone down and he was not going to be happy about any of it.

"Cassidy, what are you doing here, when did you get out of the hospital?" Joe asked when he opened the door, "What's wrong, are you hurt?" He asked and I couldn't help but run into his arms and let him hold me, he was the only family I had left besides Melanie and she was against me in my decisions concerning the Saints. Joe and I walked into his apartment and I walked over to his couch as he closed the door behind us and I let out a very audible sigh.

"What's up little bit?" Joe asked calling me my nickname from when I was little, I smiled up at him before deciding whether or not to tell him really what was going on.

"Joe, if I tell you something you have to promise not to freak out or get mad at me" I explained and by the look on Joe's face he was intrigued by my suggestion.

"I don't like the sound of this Cass" Joe started, "I can't promise anything, but you are going to tell me anyhow" Joe smirked and came and sat next to me on the couch.

"I know who the Saints are, I've known for quite a while" I confessed and Joe looked at my angrily.

"You know the son of a bitches that killed our family and you let them be, Cassidy what is wrong with you?" He asked and his tone of voice didn't sound like my brother and I was slightly terrified.

"Joe" I growled trying to get him to hear me out before he completely freaked out, "I told you I would tell you the story about the night dad was killed when I was ready, well I'm ready" I paused and Joe looked at me waiting for me to speak again.

"The Saints, I walked in on them, they practically chased me out of the bar and the one named Connor held a gun to my head, the other named Murphy, he held one to Melanie's head, they were going to kill us Joe" I stopped and looked to my brother, "Daddy always said to be tough even in the face of danger, I looked my killer in the eye and I practically told him to shoot me, but he dropped his gun and let me and Mel go" I finished my short story and I watched my brothers face.

"Let you go" He stated, "Why?" He asked scratching the back of my head.

"My thoughts exactly, that's why I wanted to find these guys, ask my own questions, then kill them for what they did, though Connor out smarted me I was a little foolish at first" I admitted and Joe actually laughed at that.

"Admitting weaknesses, my my Cassidy" He shook his head and I smacked him in the arm.

"I'm telling serious stories quit laughing" I couldn't help but smirk myself as my brother laughed again.

"Go back to your story" He said and I went back to what I was saying.

"We had a few more encounters after that, little ones here and there, both me and Melanie, but after they killed Geoff I was on a mission to kill Connor and make him pay, I had no quarrels with Murphy only because Melanie fancied him and had started up a relationship, and don't say anything because I've got tons more to say before you can comment" I paused and looked at him making sure he wasn't going to say anything, then I continued, "I confronted Connor was ready to shoot him, but things got switched around Joe, I don't know how it happened, but I woke up the next morning and we had slept together, some twisted-" I was cut off by Joe.

"Please, do not finish that sentence, sister's sex life is not something I want to know about" I giggled and then went back to my story skipping over the sex parts, finally I came to the warehouse incident.

"The Russians took Melanie and I didn't have anyone else to turn to, you are too closely related to the police, it was too dangerous, I had to go to Connor and Murphy, I ended up telling them I was the boss, Connor was pissed, he yelled at me and told me to leave" I explained the constant phone calls to him begging for their help and then the phone call from Blake before I went to the warehouse.

"The night ended with me and Murphy being shot and Blake being executed Saints style" I finished that portion of my story and then mentally battled with telling Joe the second part of it.

"Joe, the bullet did more than just tear a hole in my side, it made me miscarry, I was pregnant with Connor's child, we were together if you could even call it that, but I put an end to that tonight, I have the mob to take care of and what we had was so abnormal and dysfunctional that I think we were seriously keeping score" I finished and I couldn't tell what Joe was feeling as he looked at me.

"Was this the man at the cemetery that day?" Joe asked and I nodded before he stood up and walked into the kitchen. I heard him open a few cabinets and then he walked back into the living room and checked his gun to make sure there were bullets in it.

"Joe, what are you doing?" I asked immediately standing up and walking over to him.

"I'm very disappointed in you Cassidy, I'm going to go do what you never had the courage to do and you are going to take me to this Connor and Murphy and I am going to put an end to all of this, no one hurts my baby sister" Joe headed for the door but I grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"I came here because I needed to talk, I needed someone, my family to comfort me, I trusted you and now you are going to go kill them?" I asked him shocked at his actions.

"Isn't that what you want Cass, for them to pay for everything they have done to you, all the hurt they have caused you, all the suffering" Joe rambled on and I shook my head.

"I just want things to go back to normal" I choked on my words as I spoke them.

"Cassidy, going back to normal went away the second you gave into this Connor guy, look at you now, you're a wreck, he did this to you and he deserves to pay" Joe reached for the door handle but he stopped when he heard the click of my gun being cocked, "I know you're not pointing that at me little sister" Joe turned and looked at me as I kept my gun pointed at him. He shook his head slightly and then made eye contact with me and I could see the frustration in his eyes, but I could also see the compassion.

"Joe, don't do this" I warned as he watched my every move.

"Why Cassidy, give me one good reason why I shouldn't go and kill this fucker for doing all of these horrible things to you" Joe crossed his arms across his chest and looked to me for an answer.

"Because, he's not all bad" I started, but Joe cut me off.

"He's not a bad man, he has goodness in him, save if Cassidy" Joe growled and started to open the door, I jumped in front of him before he could fully open the door and shut it before saying something that I regretted the second it came out of my mouth.

"Because I love him!" I yelled and Joe just looked at me shocked.

"Cassidy, is this true?" He asked and I tried to internally deny it, but I was having difficulties finding a reason to think otherwise. I had been all over the place emotionally tonight, but the thought I kept coming back to was the fact that I was in love with Connor MacManus. I was willing to shoot my own brother to save Connor, the actions that I displayed told me that what I thought was painkillers or hormones was actual truth, and once again I was reminded of the fact that I had told Connor to fuck off and here I was heartbroken at my own hands.

**A/N: Well, Joe knows now, will he really let it be for the sake of his sister, or will he take matters into his own hands? Stay tuned to find out. Song for this chapter is Move by Thousand Foot Krutch. Thanks for the review **_Sissymac_**. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	39. Chapter 39

Connor's POV

I walked back to the apartment and plopped down on my bed, the day had turned into a terrible night and all I wanted to do was get some rest. I had my eyes closed and was close to drifting off to sleep when I heard the door to the apartment open and familiar voices seep in.

"Connor, 're ya 'sleep?" Murphy tried to whisper, but he was actually quite loud.

"No I'm not fuckin' 'sleep" I growled sitting up in bed and glaring at Murphy, "What is she doin' 'ere?" I questioned looked to Melanie as she awkwardly fiddled with her hands. My anger flared at the sight of Melanie, she was a constant reminder of Cassidy and at the moment I was seeing red at the sight of Melanie.

"She's wit me, we came to see jus' what went down wit ya and Cassidy" Murphy explained and I groaned.

"Ya seriously tink I would tell ya anyting, Murph' she's makin' a fool outta ya, better watch yaself" I laughed slightly to myself at the truth of the matter. Even thought Melanie technically wasn't a Morelli, she was still related to Cassidy and I wasn't about to trust her.

"Connor" Murphy warned me and when I looked up at him Melanie was stepping in front of him and approaching me.

"Connor, what did Cassidy say to you?" Melanie spoke and I tilted my head slightly.

"What makes ya tink it was 'er dat said anyting" I stood up slowly and approached Melanie.

"Instinct, Cassidy is much for letting anyone too close to her, figured she got skittish and said something" Melanie explained and I nodded after she finished speaking.

"Well yad be right, but it won't be me tellin' ya what she said, now get out of my apartment" I glared down at her. She held her ground and looked up into my eyes and I could tell she wasn't going to be leaving.

"Fine then, guess it's not my apartment anymore, Murph' hope ya 'appy choosin' an outsider over ya own brudder, ya can't trust 'er, mark my words" I shook my head before walking out of the apartment. I stood outside the door for a few seconds and then continued down the rest of the stairs and out of the building.

Melanie's POV

After Connor left the room I turned back to Murphy and sighed, I hadn't meant to make everything awkward and force Connor to leave, but I also wasn't complaining about the fact that I was finally alone with my boyfriend. Murphy stared at the door for a few more seconds and finally focused his attention back on me and I slowly walked over to him and smiled.

"What 're ya smilin' 'bout?" Murphy asked and I couldn't help but laugh a little bit.

"Wouldn't you like to know" I smirked and Murphy raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"I would actually" He smiled down at me and I stood on my tippy toes and planted a kiss on his lips. The kiss was sweet and soft, but when I went to pull away Murphy wrapped his arm around my back and pulled me closer to him. The kiss continued and deepened until finally we broke apart and I looked up into Murphy's eyes and I couldn't help but smile at the slight glimmer in his eyes. I was glad that we were able to move on with our lives and not let the outside forces or our relatives ruin what we had. I leaned up and kissed Murphy one more time before pulling away completely and grabbing onto his hand. I led him over to his bed and we continued our kissing under the comfort of the covers. I was so glad to get back to something normal and something fun that I didn't care what else was happening in the world as long as I was with Murphy.

Cassidy's POV

"Cassandra Morelli!" Joe raised his voice at me and I shut my eyes at the loud sound of his voice.

"I guess" I whispered because I wasn't sure if he should know or not.

"Cassidy, do you love this man or not?" Joe asked and I could hear the anger in his voice.

"Yes, Joe, I do, are you happy now, I love a man that has killed so much of our family, has hurt me and practically got me shot!" I yelled at my brother and he was slightly taken back by my sudden outburst.

"Oh lord, how could this have happened are you fucking insane if mother and father could see you now" Joe started speaking in Italian and rambled on and on.

"If mom and dad were here, we wouldn't be in this situation!" I yelled at him seriously getting pissed off at this point, "It's dads fault any of this happened!" I dropped my head.

"No, you don't get to blame this on the dead, this is all you Cassidy, you are the one that tried to take matters into your own hands and wound up falling for this guy that is clearly a psychopath" Joe started in on me and I was beginning to think that coming to see my brother hadn't been a very smart idea.

"Whatever Joe, think what you want" I shook my head at him and then went to open the door.

"You aren't leaving this apartment" Joe threatened.

"What are you going to do Joe, play the big brother card and forbid me to leave, I twenty fucking four, I'll do whatever I want to do" I glared at him before turning to face the door once again.

"At least stay here tonight, it's late, clearly you're upset, we can discuss this in the morning" Joe said as he rubbed his face.

"Joe, I'm fine, I'll just go home" I didn't feel like Joe's apartment was a very inviting place after all the yelling that had been exchanged.

"Cass, stay" Joe walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you mad?" I asked looking into my brother's eyes.

"Yes and no, but I don't want you driving right now, there's a spare room for a reason" Joe pulled me close to him and brought me into a hug, "Plus, it's my job as a big brother to disagree with everything you say" He laughed slightly and I couldn't help but smile.

After taking a shower I climbed into the spare bed and snuggled into the covers, as I wiggled around I was reminded of my injury when the pain shot through me. I groaned at the constant reminder of that night, I laid still and could still see the look in Connor's eyes before I heard the gun shot that night. He had a deadly stare in his eyes, it was at that moment that I knew for sure he was a killer, it was his job and it suited him, and to be honest I wouldn't have him any other way.

Next Morning

I woke up to the smell of bacon and coffee and the smells practically floated me out of bed and into the kitchen.

"Good morning, you look like hell" Joe smiled at me as I sat down at the counter in the kitchen.

"But I always look ten times better than you" I retorted and Joe laughed. It was weird, the atmosphere of the room was almost like nothing had happened the night before, though I was oddly suspicious of Joe's behavior.

"So are we good, after last night?" I asked and Joe stopped turning to bacon to look at me.

"Cassidy, I don't like the fact that you have been hanging around these dangerous me and the fact that you have know who the killers were this whole time and haven't taken them out, but yes we are ok, you will always be my little bit" He smiled as me, but I sensed that he wasn't telling me everything.

"Joe, what did you do?" I asked and he looked up at be like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"What makes you think I did something?" He asked turning his back to me. I got up out of my chair and walked over to him and made him look at me.

"Joe, what have you done?" I demanded and Joe sighed.

"I told a few of my pals about the Saints, they are surveillancing their apartment, Cass I have to make them pay for what they did" Joe spoke softly and almost to himself as he looked down at his hands.

"Joe, you are a cop, you can't be caught doing dirty work for the mob" I groaned to myself at the stupidity of my brother, "Plus, you are going to get yourself killed by messing with them, they took pity on me because I was a woman, they won't be so forgiving to a mob son, promise me you won't hunt them down, call all this off Joe, let me handle them" I tried to reason with my brother and he just shook his head.

"Let you handle them?" He started and looked up at me and I could see his anger was back, "You've been handling them this whole time, but your idea of handling them is sleeping with one of them, Cassidy this is a job for the big boys, best stay home with the girls" Joe turned off the burners on his stove and grabbed a black duffel bag before heading for the door.

"Joseph Morelli, I am not one of the girls and you are to call off this shenanigan you have planned before somebody gets hurt!" I stormed after him and tried to grab his bag.

"Cassidy, stay here" He instructed me, but I wasn't about to take orders from him. I followed him out of the apartment in my pajamas and to the elevator, "Cassidy go back to the apartment, I need to do this" Joe looked at me and I could tell he believed this is what he needed to do, but I feared for his life and Connor's.

"You don't need to do shit, this is my fight, not yours or Melanie's it is mine, Joe please don't do this" I was begging at this point and the look on my brothers face told me that he knew I was serious. I wasn't one for dramatics or begging to get my way, so he knew I was being sincere with my words.

"Fine, but you need to take care of this quick or I'll be forced to take matters into my own hands" Joe nodded his head at me and stepped out of the elevator. We headed back to his apartment and he took out his cell phone and dialed a number. I stood close to him and listened into the conversation just to make sure he was really calling off his men.

"Thanks Joe" I bopped up and gave him a kiss on the cheek before going to the kitchen and grabbing a piece of bacon.

"Why was I cursed with such a stubborn sister" He looked up at the ceiling and shook his head.

"I think you should be asking why you were blessed with such an amazing sister" I smirked as I handed him a plate of food and a cup of coffee. We sat on the couch and watched TV eating our breakfast as if nothing had ever happened, I laughed at the funniness of the whole situation, but siblings will be siblings.

I went back to the spare room after a few morning TV programs and rummaged around for my phone, when I found it I saw I had three voicemail, I figured they would all be from Melanie so I sat down on the bed and listened to them.

"You have three unheard messages, first unheard message, Cassidy where are you, Connor seems really beat up by what you said to him, I'm worried about you, hope you are at home, see you later" I punched the number seven to delete.

"Second unheard message, Cassidy, I just got home and you are nowhere to be found, I'm seriously getting worried, I really hope Connor didn't kill you or something, Cassidy be safe, call me as soon as you get this" Pressed seven once more and snickered to myself at the paranoia of my cousin, as if I would really allow Connor to kill me. After deleting the message I waited patiently for the third message to start.

"Third unheard message, Boss, we picked up one of the Saints, the blonde one, found him outside his apartment, brought him to the bunker, we will await your further instructions" I dropped my phone on the bed and immediately scrambled to pick it up. I replayed all the messages, but really focused on the last one, my men had Connor and they wanted me to tell them what to do with him, I was so in trouble now. Not only was Connor pissed at me and me secretly in love with him, but now I would have to face him much sooner than I expected and in the presence of my mob men. I prayed for answers, but I had no luck, I took a deep breath and let it out and gathered my things before leaving Joe's apartment.

**A/N: Poor Cassidy, so much stuff going on at one time, what ever will she do? Hope everyone enjoys, enjoying getting back in the swing of things with this story. Song for this chapter is Here I Go Again by Whitesnake. Thanks**_ Sissymac_** for the review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	40. Chapter 40

Melanie's POV

I was laying on the couch watching TV when I heard the door open, I raced to see if it was Cassidy and was shocked when she buzzed past me and straight to the liquor cabinet. She suddenly groaned very audibly and raced into the kitchen to search for the keys and returned to the cabinet as I stood there watching her confused.

"Cassidy, everything ok?" I asked cautiously because I could tell she was very on edge at the moment.

"Just peachy" She said way too cheerily as she took another swig out of the whiskey bottle she had grabbed.

"You don't look so peachy, where were you last night, I was worried sick" I explained and Cassidy just started laughing. I looked at her oddly and she just continued to laugh only stopping to take drinks out of the whiskey bottle.

"You worry way too much about other people" She laughed again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I questioned and Cassidy suddenly walked past me with the bottle still in hand and looked out the back patio doors, "Cassidy I'm not sure you're making any sense" I approached her and she whipped around and looked at me.

"I'm making perfect sense Melanie, you need to stop worrying about me and keep tabs on yourself, I can handle whatever gets thrown at me, you need to prepare for what may come your way" She nodded her head and made sure I was hearing what she was saying.

"Cassidy?" I started, but Cassidy didn't let me continue. She handed me the bottle after she took a very long drink and headed for the door to the bunker, "Where are you going?" I asked.

"I've got some wild oats to sow" She smirked wildly and opened the door and disappeared. I was once again left standing there confused by another things Cassidy had said, why was she so cryptic. I looked at the bottle of whiskey in my hand and after the night and morning I had, had I shrugged my shoulders and took a swig returning to my TV watching.

Cassidy's POV

I closed the door behind me and leaned against it to brace myself as I took a deep breath. I was terrified to continue down the stairs and face what was awaiting me, but I knew I would have to eventually, so I mustered up the courage and trotted down the rest of the stairs. There were two separate rooms in the bunker, when you walked down the stairs you were faced with a steel door that led to the biggest room and off of that room there was another steel door that led to a smaller interrogation room. I opened the big steel door and walked in, I was greeted by Bruce and some of our other tough guys and I nodded in response.

"What's the status?" I asked Bruce and he approached me and started to explain everything.

"He's not saying anything, we've tried a few things, but he won't say a thing, we know he has someone else with him, but no matter how hard we hit him he doesn't budge" Bruce explained and I nodded at the appropriate moments.

"Well, let's see if I can get him to talk" I started fort he second door, but Bruce grabbed onto my arm and I turned to look at him shocked.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Miss Morelli?" He asked and I ripped my arm from his grasp and glared at him.

"I didn't hire you to think about my safety Bruce" I turned my back to him and continued to make my way to the second bunker door. As soon as I was in the smaller room I closed the door behind me and took a deep breath before finally turning around to face Connor.

Murphy's POV

I made my way back to the apartment after getting some food and was surprised when Connor still wasn't back. I searched the room for any sign that he had been back to the apartment when I was out but found nothing to suggest that he had. I decided I would go search for him in the few places that I knew he frequented, I made my way down the stairs and took the back exit just in case the mob was still watching out apartment and made my way down the street to McGinty's.

"Ah Murph' what can I get ya?" Doc asked and I shook my head when he offered me a beer.

"Ya 'aven't seen Connor 'round 'ere 'ave ya?" I asked and Doc shook his head and I groaned to myself, "Thanks Doc" I said before turning and walking out of the bar. My next stop was the church, maybe Connor had felt he needed to pray or make peace with god. When I arrived I checked our normal pew and didn't find him, I went back and checked the confession boxes and was aggravated at the fact that the church was another dead end. I walked out of the church and sat down on the steps, taking out my cell phone I dialed Melanie's number thinking that he might possibly be with Cassidy.

"Hello?" Melanie answered.

"Mel, Cass been 'ome yet?" I asked and waited for her answer as I took out a cigarette with my other hand and quickly lighted it.

"She just got home about ten minutes ago why?" She questioned and I was kicking myself, another dead end.

"Did she mentioned anyting 'bout Connor?" I reached up and took out my cigarette and blew the gray smoke into the air.

"No, Murph' what's going on?" I held my cigarette in between my two fingers and tapped it knocking off some of the ash before responding.

"Connor dint come 'ome after last night" I explained, "Can't find 'em anywhere, checked da bar 'nd da church, my last idea was Cassidy" I sighed into the phone actually beginning to worry about my brother. Connor was more than capable of taking care of himself, but he was human and that means he was capable of making mistakes and being flawed. I just hoped that his mistakes and flaws didn't get him killed.

"Well I haven't seen or heard about him, but if I do you will be the first one I call Murph'" Melanie responded and I told her thank you before hanging up. I sat there on the steps of the church smoking the rest of my cigarette and trying to search my brain for any other placed Connor could have gone.

Cassidy's POV

"I was wonderin' when dey would send ya in" Connor looked up at me and his face was badly bruised around his left eye. The fact that he was wounded at the hands of my men hit me deep in the pit of my stomach and I immediately felt guilty for everything.

"I didn't order them to torture you" I explained and Connor just moved his jaw around and then spit out some blood onto the floor. I looked down at my feet at the awkward encounter and still felt the guilt slowly consuming me.

"Don't matter to me, been tortured before" Connor tried to shrug, but it was difficult because his hands were tied behind him and to the chair he was sitting in.

"Bruce tells me you haven't told them anything, doesn't surprise me" I walked over to the other side of the room and took a seat in front of Connor. I kept my gaze away from his and focused on the floor.

"Ain't gonna sell out my brudder, ya gonna 'ave ta kill me first, but ya already know dat" Connor laughed to himself, "Hell ya could go get Murph' if ya wanted, surprised ya don't" Connor continued to laugh to himself, but his last comment made my look at him and he smirked wickedly.

"Finally look at me, what's got ya panties in a twist" Connor tilted his head slightly and looked at me.

"Boss, everything ok in here?" Bruce asked and walked in, I jerked my head to look at him and nodded before standing up and walking over to him.

"Is there something you need?" I whispered so Connor couldn't hear.

"Just making sure everything was ok in here, he's crafty, don't want you getting hurt" Bruce leaned close to me and whispered back. I could feel the cold hard stare of Connor on my back and took a quick look at him and was shocked at the fire burning low in his eyes.

"I'm fine, you can leave now" I announced out loud.

"I think I'll stick around and make sure things don't get out of hand" Bruce closed the door and walked to the back of the room where he took a seat. I groaned to myself at the stubbornness of Bruce and walked back to my seat in the middle of the room.

"We know you were working with someone, who is it?" I asked staring at Connor in the eyes trying to tell him not to say anything to hint at the fact we knew each other.

"I wouldn't say anything to big a nasty over there what makes ya tink I'm gonna say anyting to da wanna be stripper 'ere?" Connor smirked. Bruce shifted behind me and I turned to look at him, he had this smug look on his face that told me he didn't believe I would get any information out of Connor. I stood up out of my chair and walked over to Connor.

"Now tell us who you are working with!" I demanded.

"What 're ya gonna do cute me ta death" Connor lifted his head up and made eye contact with me, I growled deep in my throat and glared at him.

"Tell me!" I yelled and slapped the back of my hand across his face with all my might. Connor's head whipped to one side and then snapped back into place.

"Go ta 'ell" Connor glared up at me. I took a step forward with my right foot and leaned down into his face.

"Honey I've already been there, I had sex with you" I whispered and Connor busted out laughing.

"So she does know 'ow ta throw 'em back, thank da 'eavens" Connor winked at me before I angrily stormed back to my chair.

"Get out" I looked at Bruce and demanded, he continued to sit there and I was beginning to get really pissed off, "Do you wanna keep your head, because I said get the fuck out, I am not afraid to use this" I took my gun out and pointed it at Bruce, he immediately stood up and practically scurried out of the room.

"I do believe ya jus' lit a fire under dat mans ass" Connor smirked at his comment.

"I'm about to light a fire on your face" I grumbled under my breath.

"What was dat?" Connor asked loudly.

"Shut up!" I commanded and paced around in circles, I was so conflicted and I didn't know what to do. My men were looking to me to get information that I already knew, but I didn't want to sell out Connor and Murphy.

"Ya sweatin' over der sweetie, dis all too much for ya, maybe ya should quit" Connor rambled on and on and I turned to face him with pleading eyes, all I wanted him to do was shut up so I could try and figure out what I was going to do. I walked to my chair and plopped down with my back to Connor.

"I'm sorry" I said as I leaned over and looked down at my shoes, it seemed like my dull black shoes were the only things that kept my mind from spontaneously combusting.

"Ya should be sorry, it took ya forever ta give me an opportunity to get outta dem cuffs" Connor spoke and by the time I turned around Connor was already grabbing me and keeping me still against the chair.

"Connor what are you doing?" I asked actually afraid of what he could possibly be doing.

"I'm gettin' outta 'ere, and I'm takin' ya wit me as insurance" Connor grabbed the rope that was tied around his legs and wrapped it around my arms as he held them behind my back.

"Why are you doing this?" I demanded.

"Told ya, I was done forgivin' time to get back ta work" Connor tightened the knot around my hands and I winced in pain as the rope rubbed against my skin creating burns.

"Yea, I regret making you think that again" I mumbled under my breath, and it seemed like Connor hadn't heard me, that was until he leaned down in front of me and looked into my eyes. I could tell by the look on his face he had heard me and he was very confused, but I could also see the fire still burning low in his eyes, so I knew he was going to go through with his plans and he was breaking out of here with me as his hostage, little did he know I was a willing hostage.

**A/N: Wow Chapter 40 already! Hope you all enjoy. Things will be getting crazy in this story and I can't wait! Song for this chapter is See You Later, Alligator by Million Dollar Quartet Cast. Thanks Sissymac for the review! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	41. Chapter 41

Connor's POV

I looked into Cassidy's eyes confused by the statement she had just said to herself, I knew she had thought I hadn't heard her and I wasn't about to let her know I had.

"Connor, seriously this is a bad idea, there are about ten men in the next room that are trained to kill or be killed to protect me and you are going to take them all out on your own" Cassidy paused and glanced up at me as I stood slightly behind her on her left side, "You're good, but you aren't that good" I could tel she was smirking, but I didn't respond to her comment with words, I just tightened the rope around her arms before stepping out in front of her.

"Either way, I'm gonna die tryin' plus if I go down ya goin' wit me" I nodded at her and then reached down to grab her gun that was strapped on her thigh, I made sure to rub my hand gently against her thigh in the process just to drive her crazy. We may be back to being enemies, but I would never deny that sexually we made a great pair, and she knew that. After I had the gun in hand I looped my arm in hers and forced her onto her feet.

"Connor stop this" Cassidy looked at me with pleading eyes and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Last time ya looked at me like dat I was tryin' ta kill ya, it may 'ave worked then, but it ain't gonna work dis time" I smirked and we walked over to the steel door and I tapped on it with the gun. I readied myself for the battle that would ensue and as soon as the door opened I fired the gun into the chest of Bruce. He dropped to the floor and I emerged out of the room with Cassidy, I held the gun up to her head as a warning to all the other men in the room. There was a second where Cassidy and I were standing in the middle of the room and each man was aiming his gun at us, I then proceeded to take each one out with Cassidy's gun. I managed to kill everyone in the room and I looked to Cassidy with a smug look on my face.

"Oh, you're real proud of yourself aren't you" Cassidy rolled her eyes and I couldn't help but smile, "Well now that everyone is dead, I guess I'm free to go" Cassidy started to walk away from me but I grabbed onto her tied hands and pulled her back towards me.

"Not so fast, 'aven't made it outta da 'ouse yet" I whispered in her ear and she groaned. I made my way slowly across the room with Cassidy guided in front of me, just in case another one of her goons were going to magically appear. We made it to the second steel door and I opened it and was surprised when there was no one guarding it.

"Where 're all da guards?" I asked making Cassidy look at me.

"Wouldn't you like to know" She smirked clearly finding this whole adventure funny. I narrowed my eyes at her and headed up the stairs practically dragging her behind me. As soon as we surfaced on the main floor I looked to my left and right just to make sure there was no one around, after I saw no one in my view I yanked Cassidy up behind me.

"Melanie!" Cassidy yelled startling me and I whipped around and glared at her, I should have known she would do something stupid. Melanie suddenly appeared in front of me and I couldn't help but take this opportunity to punish Cassidy for everything she had done.

"Cassidy, Connor, if this is some sort of role-play sex thing, I'm not sure I should be here" Melanie looked around awkwardly and I smirked to myself.

"She wishes" I started off and shoved Cassidy off to the side, "This is actually an escape attempt 'nd I'd appreciate if ya'd play ya part" I fired the gun and watched Melanie drop to the ground, I had shot her in a way that the bullet barely grazed her hip, it would be sore, but nothing life threatening.

"Melanie!" Cassidy screamed and tried to run towards her cousin, I grabbed her arm and took her with me towards the front door.

"Connor, why did you shoot her, she wasn't doing anything!" Cassidy yelled at me and I just focused my attention on getting out of here, I knew they would have the place surrounded since I was captured, so I had to fine an non conspicuous way out.

"Connor!" Cassidy yelled again and I finally focused on her.

"What!?" I yelled back and she recoiled before finally looking into my eyes.

"Why did you shoot Melanie?" She questioned and she was trying to keep her voice calm.

"To make ya see I'm not playin' 'round" I opened a door and was thankful to see that it was the garage.

"Connor I never doubted you, but you're free I don't understand why you need me, just let me go so I can go help Melanie" Cassidy suggested and I thought about it for a few seconds before shaking my head.

"I let ya go, dey will be right on me as soon as I leave, you're my ticket outta 'ere" I took a step down into the garage and looked at the cars that were parked there, "Which one 'as da most tint?" I asked Cassidy and she pointed to the black car at the end. I walked over to the wall with the keys on it and asked Cassidy which were the right keys, after getting the keys I walked over to the car and I opened the passengers' side door and helped Cassidy in.

"Oh what a gentleman" Cassidy mumbled to herself. I couldn't help but laugh at the predicament we were currently in, it seemed like we were always getting into some sort of situation where we were pitted against each other. I closed her door and then walked over to the drivers side and got in. I glanced around the wheel for the key hole and was very confused by the button that had replaced it.

"Push start, dumbass, put your foot on the brake and press the button" Cassidy explained and I did as she said, the car rumbled to life and I smirked to myself. I opened the garage door and then sped out of the driveway and down the road. I was deep in thought trying to decide where to go, we couldn't go back to the apartment because that's where they had originally picked me up.

"Connor?" Cassidy finally broke my concentration and I glanced over at her as she looked out the front windshield, "You know you aren't going to get very far with this, my people will find me, either that, or I'll kick your ass just for fun and get away" Cassidy looked at me with a wide smile on her face.

"Ya jus' keep tellin' yaself dat" I focused back on the road and finally knew where we were going.

Melanie's POV

"Shit!" I yelped as I put pressure on my hip, I still couldn't believe Connor had shot me, he had completely flipped his shit. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone, after pressing a few buttons I held the phone up to my ear and listened to the other line ring.

"'Ello?" Murphy answered and I took a deep breath before replaying.

"Found your brother" I announced.

"Where?" Murphy asked excitedly.

"He was here the whole time, he shot me and left with Cassidy, don't know where he went but he's not here anymore" I explained.

"He shot ya?" Murphy asked and I replied yes, "Dat son of a bitch!" Murphy growled to himself.

"Murphy, what is he going to do with Cassidy?" I asked more concerned for Cassidy's life, if Connor was willing to shoot me who knows what he was willing to do to Cassidy.

"I'm not sure, not really sure where he'd be goin' 'nyway" I could tell Murphy was really confused by everything, "I'm comin' over, need ta check on ya" Murphy hung up the phone before I couldn't protest. I was worried that as soon as Murphy came over it would be discovered that he was a Saint and he would be taken away just like Connor had been. I tried my best to get up and walk over to the couch, but I was in a lot of pain.

"Cassidy, Melanie?" I heard a voice call from the front door and I groaned to myself before hollering back.

"Living room!" I announced and I was shocked when Joe walked into the room.

"Why is there blood in the foyer?" Joe asked and when he looked down at me he panicked, "What the hell happened, was it this Connor guy, I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch" Joe knelt down and inspected my wound.

"How do you know about Connor?" I questioned looking at him shocked.

"Cassidy came by last night and told me everything, first aid kit?" He asked.

"Under the guest bathroom sink" I replied, "She told you everything?" I questioned.

"Yes, she assured me she was going to take care of things, but obviously this is a bigger job than she can handle, plus she's conflicted by her love for this guy, it's clouding her judgment" Joe rambled on as he tended to my wound.

"Love for him" I stated, "She told you she loves him?" I asked and Joe looked up to meet my gaze and nodded, "That little bitch, she told you before she told me!" I hollered irritated that Cassidy had gone to Joe instead of me.

"Calm down, he's not going to be around much longer for her to love, I'm taking him out" Joe explained, "So what exactly happened here?" Joe asked and I explained to him that Connor had probably been captured and then broke out and used Cassidy as a shield and then randomly shot me and left.

"Any idea where he could have taken her?" Joe asked finally putting a bandage on my wound.

"No" I replied.

"Murphy know?" He asked and I could feel my face get really warm, "Mel she told me everything" Joe added and I sighed.

"No, he's on his way though, he wasn't too thrilled to find out his brother shot me" I shook my head. I couldn't believe how everything had gone from happy days to now everyone was turning on everyone, it was so complicated.

Cassidy's POV

Connor parked the car outside of McGinty's and walked over and let me out, we made our way into the bar and to the back room.

"Connor, Cassidy, what's goin' on 'ere?" Doc asked worry blanketing his face as he looked from me to Connor.

"Connor here, is now a world class criminal, adding kidnapping to his list of credentials" I laughed to myself and Connor tightened his grip on my arm.

"Doc I need ta borrow da room upstairs" Connor looked at Doc and Doc just nodded his head and unlocked the door behind him that led to the upstairs.

"Thanks Doc" I looked at him before being shoved through the door and up the stairs.

"Sit" Connor demanded as he practically threw me into the room. I walked over to the only chair in the room and sat down.

"So what now Connor, gonna beat me, kill me, then chop up my body and dump me in a cornfield" I suggested and Connor snapped his head in my direction and looked at me oddly.

"I'm not a fuckin' serial killa" Connor shook his head and leaned against the wall and his face was blanketed by his thinking face.

"What you thinking about?" I asked and he looked up at me and his expression was much softer than it had been back at the house.

"Not thinkin'" He responded.

"Connor, I know your thinking face and that was it just a few seconds ago" I replied and he tilted his head slightly.

"Its called observant" I smirked, but Connor just turned his back to me and went back to thinking. Here I was finally back with Connor, yet this time my hands were literally tied and I had no control over the situation. I figured my best bet would be to just sit here and do whatever he said, because when he said he was done forgiving me and was going back to business I believed him, especially after he shot Melanie.

"Ya awful quiet over der" Connor turned back to face me and I just nodded my head, "Ya can speak ya know" He added.

"Nothing to say really" I shrugged my shoulders and leaned back in the chair.

"Any udder time ya'd be yappin' up a storm with smart remarks and shit" Connor took a step towards me and I lost my strength and looked down at his shoes, "Cassidy" He said my name and I was practically screaming at myself not to look up at him, but I failed and finally made eye contact with him.

"Connor, good we know our names now" I tried to smirk, but the look on Connor's face made me very uneasy and I was having difficulty playing this all off as a big joke.

"Cassidy" Connor stared into my eyes even deeper and I felt like he was seeing down to my soul and I prayed he didn't look in the right places, because if he did he would find out my secret and that would not be a good thing at the moment.

"What?" I asked after a long paused after he had spoken. I kept my gaze on his and I was determined to not break eye contact until he did.

"Where's ya phone?" He asked and I looked down at my pocket. Connor looked down at my hip as I glanced back up and watched his gaze. He slowly reached his hand into my pocket and I melted at the sudden touch, my body craved him and I was trying so hard to deny it what it really wanted. Connor finally met my gaze and I saw a smile form on his lips, he kept my gaze as he slipped my phone into his own pocket and we were suddenly locked in a staring contest. The close proximity of him only being a few inches from me drove me crazy and I wanted so badly to just rip off his clothes and make love to him, but I needed to compose myself, this man was no longer my friend.

"Connor" I spoke and I didn't even recognize my own voice, Connor just slowly nodded as an acknowledgement that he had heard me. I quickly shook my head at the thought that wanted to run out of my mouth, I couldn't tell him how I felt, I couldn't give into my desires, I had to stay strong and fight what he was doing to me, "Connor" I spoke again and it was more of a breath than actual speech, the heat was radiating off of him and it was leaving me breathless. Connor tilted his head slightly and looked at me confused, but leaned in close to me and I thought for a moment he was going to kiss me and my body was practically humming at the anticipation, but at the last second the air in front of me went ice cold and I was left there longing for the kiss that Connor had teased me with.

"Jackass" I growled.

"Heard dat, ya really should learn how ta keep quiet to yaself" Connor laughed as he walked out of the room leaving me there still reeling from the heated moment that hadn't climaxed.

**A/N: Well I'm glad to announce that this chapter was longer than the previous ones, I'm going to try and get them back to their normal length, but it was proving difficult earlier. Hope you all enjoy. Song for this chapter is Breathless by Jerry Lee Lewis. Thanks **_xXMegers17Xx_** and **_Sissymac_** for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	42. Chapter 42

**A/N: So sorry about the long wait for an update again, I have had so many things going on and I am literally starting to write this at 10:30, so I am going to stay up and crank this out just for my writers. Enjoy!**

Melanie's POV

The doorbell rang and I heard the door open, it wasn't soon until Murphy was standing in the living room looking at me lying on the couch.

"Hey Murph" I smiled weakly, it was super awkward as Joe and Murphy exchanged weary looks and then focused back on me.

"How ya feelin'" Murphy asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Felt better" I laughed lightly and winced at the pain, I couldn't help but feel sympathy for Cassidy at the moment, she had been shot in a worse place than me I can't imagine the paint hat she went through.

"I don't doubt that" Joe smiled at me and then focused his attention back on Murphy and I couldn't help but feel fear for my boyfriend. Joe knew everything about him now and his brother had kidnapped his sister, not to mention Murphy had helped kill his father and uncles, I wouldn't blame Joe for killing him on the spot, I just prayed he didn't.

"Murphy" Joe stuck out his hand, Murphy glanced at me quickly before sticking out his own hand and shaking Joe's, "So the matter of your brother and my sister" Joe got straight to the point, but didn't show any signs of being hostile towards Murphy.

"Connor got out, not sure where 'e woulda gone" Murphy shrugged.

"Not even a tiny idea?" Joe asked and Murphy shook his head, "Well I'm going to need your help in searching every area that he may have taken her" Joe demanded and Murphy continued to stand there looking at Joe like he was crazy.

"Why would I 'elp ya hunt down 'nd kill my own brudder?" Murphy got defensive all of a sudden. Joe snapped his focus back onto Murphy and glared at him before looking to me for help.

"Murphy, Connor shot me, he took Cassidy, I think there is something wrong with him" I suggested and Murphy looked crushed at my suggestion.

"There ain't nothin' wrong wit my brudder, you of all people should be on my side" Murphy looked at me and I could see the hurt in his gaze. The fact that Murphy was offended by my words shook me to the core and I immediately tried to back track, but Murphy wasn't hearing anything I was saying.

"I tink it's time for me ta leave" Murphy started for the door. I jumped off of the couch and ignored the pain in my hip and chased after him.

"Murphy wait, I didn't mean what I said, I'm just worried, if Connor was willing to shoot me, what will he do to Cassidy" I pleaded with Murphy and he finally glanced over at Joe and I could tell he got that we were just concerned for the safety of Cassidy.

"Fine, but ya gotta promise nothin' 'appens ta Connor once we find 'em" Murphy had a mini staring contest with Joe.

"I promise, that I will not harm your brother when we find them" Joe nodded to Murphy and I looked from one man to the next as they closed the gap between them and shook hands once again. It was official, a Morelli and a Saint was teaming up to find Connor and Cassidy.

Cassidy's POV

I awoke the next morning and moved my neck and winced in pain as my muscles screamed at me for the awful way I had slept the night before. Stupid chair. I groaned to myself as I tried to stretch my neck and stop the dull pain that was intensifying. Suddenly my stretches were interrupted by Connor opening the door and walking in.

"Mornin'" Connor smirked as he walked into the room and over to me, "Sleep well" He reached behind me and cut the rope that was holding my hands.

"Like a baby" I retorted and rubbed my wrists because they were finally free, "So are you letting me go?" I asked and Connor actually laughed out loud.

"Don't ya wish" He smirked at me and I couldn't help but roll my eyes and groan. I looked to the door and thought about my chances of actually making it out of here without him shooting me in the process, I figured the chances were slim to none.

"So why'd you untie me?" I looked up to him and he shrugged his shoulder.

"Figured ya knew not to run by now, tinkin' maybe I can trust ya ta stay 'ere" Connor was messing with some things behind me, but I kept my eyes on the door, still thinking about possibly escaping.

"You have anything to eat around here I'm starving" I finally turned to face him and he pointed to the mini fridge that was on the other side of the room. I walked past the pool table and opened the mini fridge.

"You expect me to have beer for breakfast" I looked at him with an appalled look on my face.

"Well dats all ya gonna get, so yea" Connor shrugged and turned to face me.

"Fine then" I grumbled other things under my breath and grabbed a beer and started to drink it.

Connor had left once again and by the light outside I figured it was about 5 in the afternoon, I had spent most of the day watching Connor sort through things and drinking beer. Connor had been in and out since he had walked through the door that morning and I found it quite odd that I never tried to run when he was out, I figured there was a small but very strong part of my brain keeping me here. I had been drinking all day, but I had picked up the pace in the last hour and was feeling a bit buzzed, by the time Connor got back I was totally wasted.

"Did you bring me food?" I slurred and Connor responded with a firm and demanding no. I pouted like a little kid and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Don't even" Connor warned and I reverted back to my normal posture.

"You can't not feed me Connor, I'm a human being I need food, you know what sounds good, burgers, can't we go out and get some burgers" I walked over to him and touched his arm flirtatiously.

"Quit, go sit over der of somting" Connor waved his hand motioning towards the other side of the room. I groaned very audibly and walked over to the couch in the corner. After a while Connor made his way over to the recliner that was next to the couch, I glanced at him for a second and then focused back on my beer.

"Ya know what!" I exclaimed, "There is a perfectly good pool table right here in this room, why are we not playing it?" I looked to Connor and questioned.

"Better yet!" I exclaimed once again and I heard Connor growl, "We should play, and if I win you let me go, but if you win then I'll stay here and actually listen to what you tell me to do" I looked over at Connor and he perked up at this proposition. Suddenly he didn't look so sure and I made my way over to him and sat on his lap and looked deep into his eyes.

"Please Connor" I begged and batted my eyelashes.

"Fine" He groaned and walked over to the pool sticks and got the table ready to play. Sober, I was really good at this game, but I had to constantly remind myself that I wasn't sober and that I was probably going to lose this game. Connor was the one to break and he made one of the striped pool balls into the pocket, this meant I was solids. After Connor's streak of making his shots into the pockets it was my turn. I aimed at the cue ball and made sure my positioning was correct before trying to hit the other ball into the corner pocket. I groaned when my depth perception had fooled me and I was off by quite a bit, I was going to lose this game and be stuck with Connor, forced to obey. As Connor positioned himself at the other end of the table I hopped up and sat down in the opposite end. Suddenly I was aware that the cue ball had made it to my side of the pool table and that Connor would need to shoot from this side. When Connor walked over to me and nodded for me to get out of the way I didn't move, Connor glared at me and I just stared right back at him. He moved forward and threatened to move me off the table but I leaned forward and looked deep into his eyes, I grabbed a fist full of his grey v neck t-shirt and pulled him to me, I spread my legs apart so that Connor was pushed against the side of the pool table and was as close to me as he could be. Connor continued to look into my eyes and never pushed away from me, in my drunken state I was less in control of my desires and leaned in close to Connor's face and gave him and very frantic kiss. Seconds later we were both kissing very passionately and impatiently as I ran my hands up and down his back. I eventually hopped off of the side of the pool table and turned so Connor's back was pushed up against the table. I did my best to shove him back onto the table and as he waited patiently for me to climb onto the table as well he moved the pool balls out of the way. I crawled up to him and planted a delicate kiss on his lips and immediately pulled away like it was the last kiss I was going to give him. He immediately entwined his hand in my hair and brought my face back down to his and he kissed me very passionately. The kiss deepened and in the heat of the moment Connor flipped us over and I was suddenly pinned beneath his body. I was lost in the kiss, but suddenly I was left with a cold feeling over my entire body, when I sat up and looked around the room I saw Connor walk out of the room and slam the door behind him. I sighed to myself and plopped back down on the pool table, I ignored the pain in my head and the still aching pain in my side as I stared up at the ceiling defeated once again my Connor.

Melanie's POV

"I'm coming with you guys, she's my cousin" I demanded as Joe and Murphy were about to head out the door.

"Melanie, you've been shot, you need to rest and let the boys handle this" I looked at Joe and put a hand on my good hip.

"I'm fully capable of doing anything you can Joe Morelli" I glared.

"Wow, you really should stop hanging around Cassidy" Joe shook his head and I took pride in the fact that I was turning into Cassidy.

"I take that as a compliment, now I'm coming with you" I demanded once again and Joe looked to Murphy for help. Murphy turned to face me and proceeded to give me a speech.

"Melanie, we don' know where Connor took Cassidy, we don' know if it'll be dangerous, ya hurt, I don' want ya anymore hurt dan ya 're, plus like ya said somting is wrong wit Connor who knows what e'll do, please stay 'ere and if ya 'ear from Cassidy or even Connor let us know" Murphy took a step closer to me and planted a kiss on my lips, "I love ya" He whispered in my ear and I smiled at those three words and the soothing sound of his accent.

"Love you too" I gave him a kiss back and walked both Murphy and Joe to the door, "Be careful you two, Connor is capable of a lot of things, better yet Cassidy is capable of a lot of things too, watch your back" I waved to them both as they made their way over to Joe's car. Joe pulled out of the driveway and drive down the road and I was left on the doorstep with nothing but my thoughts and my worries to comfort me and my boyfriend and my cousin who were enemies at heart went to search for Connor and Cassidy, I prayed they would all make it out alive.

**A/N: So it's only midnight now, so timing was pretty good for still cranking out 2,000 words. Hope everyone enjoys! Song for this chapter is Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. Thanks Sissymac for the review! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	43. Chapter 43

**A/N: Sorry again, was super busy this week and went to the gym and got my ass beat by weight lifting and was zonked by the time I was ready to write, but I'm back and ready, for now. Enjoy!**

Connor's POV

I walked out of the room and down the stairs, I practically ran into Doc as he suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Sorry Doc" I tried to walk around him but he stopped me so he could get a better look at me.

"Connor ya doin' ok?" Doc watched me and I nodded my head, "I don' tink what ya doin' is good, but I trust ya 're doin' what ya feel is right" Doc nodded to me and I finally passed by him. I groaned to myself as I made my way to the bar and poured myself a drink. Cassidy was totally out of control, it was hard enough trying to control her when she was sober let alone when she was drunk. I was still internally scolding myself for actually giving into her earlier, it was just so difficult when she used her body like that, I was a man it was hard to not give into desires like that. After I finished my drink I told Doc I was leaving and headed out of the bar.

Murphy's POV

I was sitting in the car with Joe as we sat in awkward silence, we made our way into the city. Joe finally broke the silence and looked at me as he spoke.

"Where would your brother be hiding?" He asked. I eyes him suspiciously, I wasn't really sure if I could trust this guy, sure he was Melanie's cousin and Cassidy's brother, but he also knew just who me and my brother were and he seemed way too cool about it.

"I checked all of 'is normal spots, not sure where else ta check" I stated and focused my gaze back onto the road. I was familiar with the road we were on and I was beginning to become more suspicious about the whole thing.

"Damnit think Murphy!" Joe raised his voice and slammed a hand onto the steering wheel. I snapped my attention back to Joe and lowered my right hand down to the gun that was in its holster.

"I don' know, try da bar 'gain" I suggested.

"What bar?" He asked and I told him. It seemed like it took forever to us to make it to the bar, but we finally arrived and Joe parked the car outside.

"Stay here, if he's here he will know you he doesn't know me" Joe demanded and then got out of the car. I growled under my breath at the audacity of Joe telling me to stay in the car, I immediately defied his command and got out of the car and started to smoke a cigarette. I walked down the alley to the back of the bar and kicked some trash that had been littered onto the ground. Suddenly I felt like someone was watching me and I made sure to slowly turn around and face my stalker. I heaved a sigh when I saw that it was Connor, but then I immediately realized that Connor was in danger because Joe was right inside the bar.

"Murph', what ya doin' 'ere?" Connor asked and I started toward him.

"Connor, ya need ta get outta 'ere Cassidy's brudder is searchin' for ya and what da 'ell 're ya tinkin' takin' Cassidy in da first place, 'ave ya lost ya fuckin' mind?" I questioned my brother and all he did was laugh, "Ya 'ave lost ya mind" I ran a hand over my face and then through my hair.

"Calm down Murph' he ain't gonna find me, 'nd I 'ave my own reasons for takin' Cassidy, jus' keep her brudder outta my way" Connor started walking past me down the alley way.

"Ya 'ave her 'ere don't ya, what is wrong wit you, dis is only gonna back fire on ya" I warned with a shake of my head. Connor just looked back at me and continued to walk away. I finished my cigarette and walked back to the car and got in. I couldn't believe that my brother was so off the chain that he would kidnap Cassidy and then when he runs into me doesn't say anything about it, these two girls had definitely driven a stake between the two of us and I was beginning to see why Connor didn't like it at first.

Cassidy's POV

I was still laying on the pool table when I heard the door open again, I didn't even bother to sit up and look to see who it was because I knew it was Connor.

"Get up, I brought ya some damn food" I tried to hold back my smirk as I sat up and all the blood rushed out of my head and I stumbled off the pool table. Luckily Connor caught me before I was about to fall and I avoided eye contact until I was no longer in his arms. After we were both standing upright Connor shoved the bag of food in my direction and I took it.

"Thanks" I said before walking over to the couch and taking the food out, I couldn't help but smile at the fact that he had brought me a burger just like I wanted. Connor went on to do some other things while I started eating my food, suddenly I felt the other end of the couch shift and I turned to see Connor sitting there reaching into a bag similar to my own. I finished with my burger and took out the carton of fries and started eating those, I didn't realize it but I was practically stuffing my face because of the lack of food I had, had.

"Slow down piggy" Connor looked over at me and I met his gaze and immediately felt very ashamed and placed the rest of the fries back in my bag and got up to throw away my food.

"Ya know if you wouldn't have starved me, maybe I wouldn't be stuffing my face" I grumbled under my breath as I threw the bag into the trash and there was a loud thud.

"Ya know I hear everyting ya say under ya breath" Connor spoke up and I stopped my steps as I walked back over to the couch, "Yes everyting" Connor spoke again and I didn't know what to do.

"So, like that means anything to me" I stated and then plopped down on the couch trying to play it off like I didn't know what he was talking about. Connor continued to eat his food and we both sat there in silence suddenly nature called and I really needed to go to the rest room, but as I looked around the room I noticed that there wasn't one in the room.

"Connor" I spoke and looked at him, he made a sound in the back of his throat as an acknowledgement of my word, "I need to go to the bathroom" I watched him and he set down his food and stood up.

"Well come on den" Connor said and started walking towards the door.

"You're actually going to let me out of this room, knowing you I'm surprised that you didn't tell me to go in a cup" I stood up and walked up behind Connor and stopped when he stood at the door.

"I'm cruel, but not dat cruel" He smirked and I rolled my eye, "Now, no runnin' off or I will make ya go in a cup" Connor threatened and I groaned.

"Yes Master" I followed behind Connor as he walked down the stairs, he suddenly stopped and I almost ran into him, but he turned to my and put a finger up to his lips to tell me to be quiet. We made it down into Doc's office and as we stood there waiting for some reason I heard a familiar voice floating in from the bar.

"That's my brother" I tried to get past Connor, but he turned and shoved me up against the wall and put a hand over my mouth.

"Quiet" He whispered in my ear and then focused back towards the open door.

"Her name is Cassidy, here is a picture, if you see her just call the Boston Police Department and ask for Joe, I'm heading the investigation" Joe finished his sentence and I couldn't quiet hear what Doc said in return. "Do you mind if I take a look around before I leave" Joe asked and I could hear his voice getting closer and closer. Connor turned back to face me and looked into my eyes and begged me not to make a sound, suddenly he dropped his hand from my mouth and attacked my lips. He pushed us back into the corner of the office and used his body to hide me as he continued to kiss me. I could hear the footsteps getting closer and closer and my heart was about to jump out of my chest, Joe thought Connor had kidnapped me and if he saw him now he would not doubt kill him on the spot. My worry spiked when I heard the footsteps enter the room and I stopped kissing Connor back as I held my breath.

"Oh sorry" Joe said and his footsteps disappeared again, I let out a breath as Connor backed away from me and eyed me oddly.

"What the hell?" I questioned quietly.

"Shhh" Connor cornered me again and watched me until someone walked into the room and cleared their throat. I was terrified that it was Joe, but when Connor stepped away I saw that it was Doc.

"He's gone" Doc informed us and I heaved a sigh of relief, although I would have loved to go home with Joe, I secretly loved being held captive by Connor.

"Go to the bathroom, I'll be guarding the door, don't try anything" Connor warned and shoved me towards the door of the office. I walked into the bathroom and smirked to myself when I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, while Connor had been kissing me I used the opportunity to pretend like I was making out with him to search his clothes for my phone. I walked to the farthest stall from the door and dialed Melanie's cell number.

"Connor, if you're calling to tell me you are going to hurt Cassidy save it, your brother and Joe are out looking for you" Melanie began, obviously she didn't think that I would have my phone at this point.

"Mel its me" I whispered and I heard Melanie gasp, "Don't freak, I don't have long, I'm in the bathroom and I stole my phone, he'll find out soon, I just wanted you to know I'm ok, Joe was here, but he didn't find me" I stopped and I sighed to myself.

"You don't want to be found do you?" Melanie asked and I was conflicted by this question.

"I don't like being held this way, but I have to be honest I don't mind being with Connor, even thought he hates me at the moment" I explained and leaned against the wall.

"Honey you love him, I can understand not wanting to leave" Melanie responded.

"Joe told you" I groaned, suddenly I heard the door to the bathroom open and the stall I was in was kicked open.

"Give me da damn phone, shoulda known ya woulda tried dis" Connor snatched the phone from my hand and grabbed onto my wrist.

"Connor, I really do need to use the restroom, I just wanted to let Melanie know I was still alive" I pleaded with him and he threw my arm down.

"Hurry up" He crossed his arms and leaned up against the sink. I hurried into the next stall and did my business before emerging again. Connor went to grab my arm, but I took a step back and glared at him.

"Don't fucking touch me" I stormed out of the bathroom and Connor followed behind hot on my heels. Instead of going to the office and up the stairs I walked out into the empty bar and went to get a drink, "If I have to deal with you for however long you are going to keep me here, I'm going to need something stronger than beer" I grabbed a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of tequila. After I had my liquor of choice I walked back to the office and up the stairs into my hostage room.

"I tink ya 'ave a drinkin' problem" Connor spoke and I immediately looked at him and stared daggers at him.

"Didn't have a problem until I met you" I tried to hide my smirk that was supposed to go along with the statement, but I couldn't help but let it shine through.

"You wish" Connor returned my smirk and I continued to smile.

"Drink?" I asked as I unscrewed the cap on the whiskey bottle.

"No, 'nd I tink ya have 'ad enough" Connor grabbed the bottle from my hands and took a swig before holding his hand out for the lid.

"Fine" I grumbled and handed him the lid to the bottle. Connor screwed it closed and set it on the table. I walked over to the couch and heaved a very audible sigh as I laid down on my back, "What are you going to do now, I thought the whole point of kidnapping me was to eventually kill me, doesn't seem like a very hostile environment" I laughed. Connor was about to say something when my phone rang in his pocket.

Connor's POV

I looked down at my pocket at the sudden sounds that were being emitted by Cassidy's phone. I groaned and pulled it out and answered it.

"Melanie, ya better not be usin' dis to try 'nd find Cassidy" I warned and Melanie finally spoke.

"Connor, don't do anything to hurt her, she may pretend to be tough around you, but she has a very soft spot for you, don't take advantage of that, and please do not hurt her" Melanie finished, "By the way I'm still pissed that you shot me you son of a bitch" I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"I'll make sure you send some flowers when I get the chance, now is that all?" I asked and waited for Melanie to respond.

"Just remember she has a soft spot for you, Connor don't hurt her I'm warning you, and if you do hurt her, you will lose her forever, and we both know you really don't want that" Melanie finished and hung up the phone. I stood there in the middle of the room and looked over at Cassidy as she laid on the couch and was looking at me upside down. I couldn't help but smile at how cute she looked looking at me playfully, little did everyone know, but I secretly had a soft spot for Cassidy as well.

**A/N: So here is the next chapter, again sorry for the lack of the updates. Hope everyone enjoys this one. Thanks McbrideReeduslover and Sissymac for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned, R&R Please! No song, it's late and I'm super tired. **


	44. Chapter 44

Murphy's POV

Joe finally arrived back at the car and got in, it was silent for the longest time until my cell phone rang and I saw that it was Melanie.

"'ello?" I answered.

"Are you with Joe?" Melanie asked and I glanced slightly at Joe as he fiddled with some papers he had grabbed out of the back of the car.

"Yes" I responded.

"You need to get away from him for a minute or two, I have something to tell you that I don't want him to over hear" Melanie explained and I slowly reached for the door handle and stepped out of the car. I was glad that Joe hadn't said anything to me as I made my way down the alley I had ventured down earlier.

"Ok, what is it?" I asked and waited for Melanie to respond.

"Cassidy called me a few minutes ago" She started and I was slightly confused, if my brother was supposedly holding Cassidy hostage he would have no doubt taken her cell phone from her, unless he was slipping up. I pushed my concerns to the back of my mind and focused back on my conversation with Melanie.

"What did she say?" I glanced around me just to make sure Joe hadn't gotten out of the car and started searching for me.

"She said she was fine, I'm still worried about her, I talked to Connor as well, I warned him not to hurt her, but Murphy I'm afraid that he will hurt her" I could hear the fear in Melanie's voice and I wanted so badly to tell her that everything was going to be ok, but there was no way that I could guarantee that Connor wouldn't hurt Cassidy in one form or another.

"Well, I supposed I should tell ya dat I ran inta Connor earlier" I stated and Melanie immediately asked me a million questions with a frantic tone to her voice," Calm down, I dint talk to 'em long, ders somting off 'bout 'em but I tink Cassidy will be jus' fine" I tried to reassure Melanie that he cousin would be ok.

"Murphy, if anything happens to her I will never forgive him, I can forgive the murders, but she is all I have left, find him and keep her safe" Melanie pleaded with me and I found myself nodding to her even though she couldn't see me.

"Melanie, I promise I will find 'er 'nd talk some sense inta my brudder" I explained, "Well I better get back ta Joe, he'll be wonderin' where I wondered off ta" We said our goodbyes and I made my way back to the car. When I closed the door after climbing into the car Joe sped off down the road without even glancing at me of speaking. I was still slightly on edge by the way Joe carried himself and the rapidity of his take off only heightened my concerns. I kept quiet like I normally did and didn't question the driver, but as we headed out of the Irish neighborhood and entered the Italian district I gritted my teeth knowing that Connor wouldn't be here. I immediately gripped my gun that was in its holster and when we screeched to a stop at a shady looking building on the outskirts of the Italian district I pulled my weapon and aimed it at Joe.

Cassidy's POV

I continued to lay on the couch and watch Connor upside down, after he hung up the phone I lifted it up and rested it back on the couch and looked towards my shoes.

"Melanie calling to beg you not to hurt me?" I questioned and Connor suddenly came into view.

"Wouldn't say dat" Connor lifted my legs and sat down putting my legs down on his lap. It was such an odd thing for him to do, but it almost seemed normal, like we had done this before, I was beginning to get odd sense of déjà vu.

"Sounds like her, always trying to play the sweet innocent card for me, everyone knows I'm not innocent, the hole in my side proves that" I laughed to myself, the pain in my side was finally tolerable and I could laugh when I wanted to, "She's probably terrified that you're going to kill me, but we both know that's not going to happen, so why am I here Connor, you could have dropped me off a long time ago, yet here I am in this play room with you" I sat up on the couch and moved closer to Connor to try and make him uncomfortable.

"Ya 'ad many chances of escapin' yet ya still 'ere" He retorted back and I scoffed before pushing myself up off the couch.

"Then I'll just leave then" I took a few steps towards the door and turned to Connor with a smirk on my face.

"Go 'head 'nd leave den" Connor leaned back on the couch and made himself comfortable. I narrowed my eyes and studied Connor for a few moments before turning and walking towards the door again. I halted my footfalls when I reached for the door handle, I was pissed and slightly hurt that Connor wasn't stopping me from leaving him.

"All this time, all you wanted to do was kill me and you are just going to let me go" I said softly as I stared at the door in front of me. If I stepped out of this room then it was official, Connor and I would never see each other again, at least not until he picked me again to be executed Saints style.

"Yup" Connor said as if he didn't care and the rage that was beneath the hurt bubbled up and merged with the sadness that was there.

"You're gonna do it eventually, so why not get it over with, why continue these stupid games where we feed off each other's emotions and just kill me, relieve me of this pain that knowing you has caused and fucking kill me like you said you wanted to do the night you met me" I was yelling at this point and I had stormed across the room and was standing in front of Connor with hot tears running down my face. Connor continued to sit there and look at me, his face never changing.

"You are so infuriating!" I growled, "Why do you do this to people, you get inside their heads, I want you out of my brain and the only way for that to happen is for you to kill me like you promised you would do when I told you to fuck off the other night" At this Connor finally changed the expression on his face and he pushed himself forward and sat on the edge of the couch.

"Why 're ya all of a sudden so hell bent on dyin'" Connor glanced up and made eye contact with me and I heaved a very loud sigh.

"Why the fuck do you care, what happened to the ruthless man that wanted me dead so many times, I want him here, he wouldn't be a pussy he would have taken care of me a long time ago" Connor stood up quickly and grabbed onto my arm as I stalked towards the door once again.

"Look at me" He demanded and I did everything I could to avert my gaze from his, "Look at me" Connor raised his voice and shook me slightly bringing me closer to him. I was finally forced to look at him and I watched him as he searched my eyes and my face for a sign I didn't know.

"Let me go, obviously all hope is lost on you" I ripped my arm away from his grip and threw open the door when I stood in front of it, "I would say it was nice knowing you, but honey loving you was the biggest mistake of my life" I crossed the threshold and immediately stopped in my tracks, I had just divulged some very top secret information that Connor was never supposed to find out, I so badly wanted to just implode on the spot or run for my life, but I was crippled by my own fear and all I could do was stand there in mid step like an idiot.

Murphy's POV

"Hey now, let's not doing anything you're going to regret there Murphy, might not want to threaten an Italian in his own district" Joe suddenly smirked and my door opened next to me and my gun was ripped out of my hands before I could properly react. The next thing I knew I was practically being ripped out of the seat I was strapped into and being man handled until I was shoved into a very tiny room inside the building we parked outside of.

"What da 'ell Joe, I was 'elpin' ya find ya sister 'nd dis is how ya repay me" I looked at the five men that were standing in the room with me. Joe was standing in the middle and was obviously in charge, the huge man that had ripped me out of my seat was standing to his right along with a tall lanky man, on Joe's left there were two men that looked cop like and I was sure I was in for a rude awakening.

A few hours later Joe's henchmen had stopped beating me to try and get information, I hadn't told them a thing, because honestly I didn't know all that much, but I did know where Cassidy and Connor were. I spat some blood out on the floor and readied myself for another fight, but when none of the men approached me and actually walked out of the room I was shocked. I searched the room for anything that could possibly help me but I was completely screwed, they had taken my gun and my knives and such that u had hidden on me and they had taken my phone so I couldn't even tell anyone what was happening. I walked over to the side of the room and leaned my back against the wall and slid down until I was sitting on the cold concrete floor. I heaved a sigh as my muscles seized up from the over usage during the fights I had ben thrust into. I couldn't help but smirk at the whole thing, minus the fact that I had fallen for this very obvious trap, Connor would be proud that I actually held my ground in here, I was definitely not the weak brother he often times thought I was. My thoughts were soon interrupted by the lights turning off in the room and the screech of the door opening on the other side of the room. I tried my best to try and see what was going on, but my eyes were not adjusting at a rate that was going to help me.

"Attack!" One word was shouted and then the lights were flipped back on and just as my eyes adjusted to the brightness in the room I saw the German Shepherd jump at me and tried my best to use my feet to keep it's snapping jaw away from me. I finally mustered some strength and shoved the dog off of me using my feet and jumped up onto my feet before it could regain its footing. The dog and I did the deadly dance and eyed each other as we walked in a circle. I knew it wouldn't be long before the dog decided to attack again, dogs were much more to the point than humans were so the dance would not last long. As if on cue the dog lunged for me and leapt off its feet and in one swift movement I lunged for the dog as well and tackled it to the ground. I tried my hardest to keep the dog still as I un hooked its collar so I could use it as a weapon. I released the dog and it immediately turned on me, I did my best to roll and dodge the attack, but it grabbed onto my boot and bit down. I cringed in pain as the dogs teeth punctured the skin on my foot through the boot I was wearing. I used my free foot to kick the dog in the head repeatedly until it released my foot and I was able to get away from it.

"Come on ya dumb dog!" I yelled after I had made it to the other side of the room, I was ready for the dog this time when it leapt at me and I shoved one foot forward and smacked the dog in the head, when it dropped to the ground and tried to get up I jumped on top of it and used it's own collar to try and choke it to death. Suddenly the door swung open and the burly guy who had taken me out of the car walked in and ripped me away from the dog and then carried the dog out. I laid back on the concrete floor and tried to catch my breath from all the excitement, if that was the first test, I sure as hell didn't want to see what else they were going to throw at me, but I knew that this was only the beginning and Joe wasn't going to stop until he had both me and Connor.

**A/N: So here it is! No animals were harmed in the writing of this chapter, and believe me it pained me to write the abuse of such a beautiful animal, but I had to give Murphy some sort of challenge and police dogs are fierce. Hope everyone enjoys! Song for this chapter is Evil Walks by AC/DC. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLover_** and **_Sissymac_** for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	45. Chapter 45

Cassidy's POV

I stood there for a few more seconds and decided that maybe Connor hadn't heard me, but as soon as I took another step forward Connor spoke up.

"Wait" I stopped again and continued to listen, I could hear Connor's footsteps on the hardwood floor and they were getting closer and closer to me. I steadied my breathing and was terrified about what was going to happen next, I continued to keep my back to the door, but when the footfalls stopped I turned to face Connor. I wiped away the tears that were still wet on my face from screaming earlier and kept my gaze downward.

"Is dis what ya were mumblin' 'bout earlier?" Connor asked and I slightly nodded my head, not really finding the courage to speak yet. There was a long period of silence after Connor spoke and I had a feeling he was waiting for me to say something.

"I thought it was the right thing to do, I was getting too close to you and it felt so weird and out of my comfort zone, I knew that me knowing you when my men were getting closer would be dangerous for both of us, the things you want I can't give to you, I was shot in the events that surrounded hurting you by divulging my true identity, everything is just so-" Suddenly Connor rushed towards me and in one swift movement lifted my chin and kissed my lips gently. It was a quick but very gentle kiss and when Connor pulled away I finally looked up at him and all I could do was smile up at him.

"This isn't safe though" I immediately tried to find something wrong with being with him because I was so afraid that he didn't return the love that I had for him. I shook my head at the whole situation, I still couldn't believe that I loved the man standing in front of me, he was a wild child and so much like me, but there was just something about him that clicked with me.

"Cassidy" Connor spoke my name exasperated and I looked back up at him.

"What, you're gonna tell me that I'm over thinking everything, that it's all going to be ok, we are going to live happily ever after and have kids and have a normal life" I shook my head as I spoke letting Connor know that everything that was coming out of my mouth were just false thoughts.

"No, the two of us even knowin' each uder is dangerous" Connor seemed to be looking even deeper into my eyes, "I can't promise ya anyting" This time it was Connor's turn to look away.

"Good" I spoke and Connor looked over his shoulder at me confused, "I'm not sure I want all those things I said, I don't want you to promise me anything, I want to live life on the edge with-" I stopped myself because I was afraid to say the next line out loud. Connor turned to face me completely again and look a step towards me. Even though I was intimidated by his stature and close proximity I mustered up the courage to look up into his eyes and speak again.

"The man I love" I kept my gaze locked with Connor's and I finally felt like what I was saying was being accepted by Connor and I was breathing easy again. As Connor and I stood there outside the door I began to worry about the silence that had blanketed our once commutative moment.

"Connor?" I questioned and he just turned back towards the door and walked over to the couch and sat down with a sigh.

Melanie's POV

I was beginning to worry about Murphy and Joe, they had been gone for quite a while and neither of them had contacted me. I was quite bored at the house doing nothing but waiting on other people, it really sucked being shot and not having the mobility as usual. I waited another hour before I took out my cell phone and dialed Murphy, I listened to it continuously ring and ring and then finally the voicemail picked up. I groaned to myself at the lack of an answer, it usually wasn't like Murphy to ignore a call from me, I just prayed that the reason he wasn't able to answer my phone call wasn't too serious.

Connor's POV

I sat there on the couch as Cassidy continued to stand in the hallway outside the secret room above the bar, she had just told me she loved me and I was attacked by a lot of confusing emotions that I didn't want to search through. I finally made the decision to numb my brain by drinking some of the whiskey Cassidy had brought upstairs, maybe if I got good a sloshed I could figure out just what Cassidy wanted from me.

"Connor?" Cassidy called again and broke my concentration.

"Drink?" I asked pouring some of the whiskey into a glass and stretching my arm out in her direction.

"No" She stated and her voice sounded disappointed, it was so odd for her not to accept a drink.

"More for me den" I smirked to myself and downed what was in the glass and made a refreshing sound as the whiskey burned down my throat.

"Yea, you can have it all for all I care" Cassidy growled under her breath and then headed down the stairs, there was a part of me that wanted to race after her, but there was also another part that wanted to sit on the couch and live it up with the bottle of whiskey.

After what seemed like days I got up and stumbled over to the window and saw that it was already dark outside, this meant that the bar was open and operating and I could blend in with the drunken patrons. I left the bottle of whiskey down and headed down the stairs and used the railing to stabilize myself. When I arrived downstairs and walked into the bar I was surprised to see a familiar blonde behind the bar counter.

"What can I get ya?" She asked when I sat down at the bar, it was weird, she was acting as if she didn't know me and I was just a normal guy who sat down at the bar. Deep down inside it really pissed me off.

"Beer" I stated and she walked away and grabbed my usual before returning to me. After she had set the beer down she was off again to serve the other people at the bar and I was stuck watching her from a distance. Even in my drunken state I was taken back to the time I sat and watched her bartend at her club, she really fit in with the people and she loved to talk and flirt. I couldn't help but smirk to myself as I also remembered her and Melanie dancing together, I knew she would never admit it, but I knew she only did that to show off to me, I knew she wasn't a dancing type, but damn she could move. I finished my beer after about twenty minutes and Cassidy walked over to me and asked if I wanted a refill. I shook my head and reach out and wrapped my hand around her wrist gently.

"I tink we need ta talk" I slurred and Cassidy just laughed in my face.

"Connor, you're drunk, and I don't really have anything to say to you, I told you my true feelings and you had nothing to say, there's nothing more to add to nothing" She shrugged her shoulders and tried to walk away but I tightened my grip on her arm and she whipped her head towards me and glared. I smirked playfully as I also saw a sparkle in her eye that meant she was being playful as well.

"Come on Sadie" I leaned forward a little and tried to make her look at me. She tried her best to not look into my eyes, but when she finally did I knew I had her.

"Damnit, fine" She threw up her arms and left the bar to Doc. Cassidy led the way up the stairs and stood in the middle of the upstairs room with her arms crossed waiting for me to say something.

"Listen-" I stopped my words when I heard my Cassidy's phone ring in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the called ID and it said it was Murphy, I debated on whether or not to answer it because I was very confused about why Murphy would be calling Cassidy's phone. Through all the thoughts and confusion in my head I answered the phone before I even knew what I was doing.

"'ello?" I answered as Cassidy looked at me confused.

"Connor MacManus, my name is Joe Morelli and I think you have something that I want back" I looked to Cassidy and she continued to look at me confused.

"Well I may or may not, but my question for ya is why ya usin' my brudders phone ta contact me" I waited for a reply.

"Well I have something you might want back, that is if you value your bothers life, we might be able to make a trade since he was unwilling to give us any information" Joe finished speaking and I had to keep myself from growling into the phone.

"I'll find ya Morelli" I threatened.

"I'm counting on it, why only execute one Saint when I can kill two" Joe finished and hung up the phone. As soon as I shut off the phone I had to control myself from throwing Cassidy's phone across the room. The threat of the death of my brother had sobered me up and I was full of adrenaline.

"Connor, what's going on?" Cassidy approached me and I immediately walked away from her, I was so pissed off that I didn't want to accidentally take it out on her.

"Ya fuckin' brudder 'as Murph'" I growled and Cassidy's eyes widened.

"What?" She questioned, "He took Murphy to try and get you to let me go, he has lost his damn mind" Cassidy raised her voice slightly.

"Why does'e know 'bout us Cassidy?" I used Cassidy's full name instead of the nickname I usually used and she looked down at her shoes. I stalked towards her and made her look at me, "Why does'e know me 'nd Murph' 're da Saints?" I demanded.

"I told him everything, ok, it was after I called everything off with you, Melanie was too involved with Murphy and I needed someone to talk to, I regretted everything I said as soon as you left and I needed to sort through my thoughts, he's family I figured he would listen to me and not judge" Cassidy explained and I was just getting more and more angry.

"I gotta go" I ignored Cassidy's protests and headed out of the room and down the stairs.

"Connor, I'm coming with you, I'm sorry I told him this is my fault, besides you don't even know where Joe is, we need to head to the house and ask Melanie where they said they were going, she might know" I shook my head at everything she was saying.

"Murphy was 'elpin' ya brudder search for me and you, damn bastard turn on 'em" Cassidy then out of no where groaned very angrily.

"I fucking told him not to do this and he went ahead and did it anyway, I told him I would take care of you guys, it was a lie of course, but I had to tell him something so he didn't march out of his apartment and kill you on the spot" Cassidy went on and on and I could tell she was really mad at her brother.

"Calm down a minute" I grabbed onto her shoulders and stopped her from pacing back and forth. I was trying to think of something to do and I really hated to admit that Cassidy's plan to go to the house and question Melanie was a good idea.

"Connor, I'm sorry this all happened" Cassidy looked up at me and I couldn't help but feel confused, "this is all my fault, if I would have just gave into my feelings instead of pushing them away then I wouldn't have gone to Joe to talk and we wouldn't be in this situation" Cassidy legitimately looked pained by her involvement in the series of events that led to the capture of my brother.

"Ya can blame yaself later, we need ta get a move on" I tried my best to get her mind off of thinking everything was her fault and grabbed onto her hand and led her out the back door and into the alleyway.

"Connor" Cassidy started and I immediately stopped walking and turned to face her.

"Don't, we 'ave better tings ta worry 'bout, we can talk 'bout dat later, promise" I stopped her before she could get all wrapped up in her emotions and all the other things that were floating through her mind. I really did want to talk about things, but my first priority was to find my brother and take out some frustration on Joe Morelli.

We made it to the house and walked in, Cassidy walked ahead of my quickly and walked into the living room.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Melanie looked at me with a disgusted look on my face.

"Do you love Murphy?" Cassidy asked Melanie and she focused on her cousin with a confused expression on her face.

"What does that have to do with anything, Cassidy he shot me" Melanie pointed at me as she kept her eyes on Cassidy.

"Do you love Murphy, Melanie?" Cassidy asked once again.

"Yes, why?" Melanie questioned getting frustrated with her cousin.

"That's all that matters, Joe crossed him, and in order to save the man you love Connor has to help, so don't give me or him any shit" Cassidy finished her statement and walked away. I glanced at Melanie and gave her a slight nod before racing after Cassidy.

"So Joe has Murphy, he's not going to do anything to him, he wouldn't, would he" Melanie hobbled after us as Cassidy opened a door that I had never noticed and revealed a whole arsenal of guns and weapons.

"They already beat 'em for information" I explained and Melanie gasped and covered her mouth, "Don't worry I won't stop til I find my brudder and I'll make Joe pay" I reassured her and she nodded her head as a response. It was funny, I felt like I was going out with my brother, but I was going on a hunt with Cassidy, maybe she could be my replacement Saint.

**A/N: So 45 chapters, I can't wait to have 50 chapters, it's so close! Hope everyone enjoys! Song for this chapter is The Saints Are Coming by The Dirges. Thanks **_Sissymac _**and **_SecretScarlet _**for the reviews. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	46. Chapter 46

Murphy's POV

I was suddenly startled awake by a very loud metal on metal sound, I immediately checked my surroundings and saw nothing.

"Murphy, you almost killed my dog with it's own collar, that is quite impressive" Joe walked in with a smug look on his face, if I wasn't being held captive by him I wouldn't have shot that look off his face, "Are you ready to talk?" He asked and took a seat at the table in the far corner of the room.

"Ya tink throwin' an attack dog at me, is gonna make me sell out my own flesh and blood, ya got somting ta learn 'bout family" I sat up and rested one of my arms on my bent knee and looked over at Joe.

"Well, I'm sure you have a breaking point when it comes to torture, we will just have to see where that is" Joe threatened and I narrowed my eyes as I glared at him.

"I'll die before I break" I pushed myself up off the ground and stalked toward Joe. The whole time I walked towards him I was gritting my teeth from the pain in my foot from where the dog had bit me.

"Well that can always be arranged, but it really would be a shame to kill you without using you first" Joe smirked and scooted back in his chair before standing up and trying to stare me down.

"What's dat supposed ta mean?" I continued to glare at him and he trudged toward the door, "Hey!" I called to him.

"You'll find out soon enough" Joe opened the door and shut it behind him. Seconds after I was left alone, the lights shut off and once again I was locked in a dark room to think about what they might do to me next.

Cassidy's POV

Connor and I finished loading the car with the weapons that we picked out and I headed back into the house and made my way into the kitchen to get some food.

"What 're ya doin'?" Connor startled me and I whipped around and looked at him with a bowl of cereal in my hands.

"Eating, since you practically starved me when you had me held captive, if you could even call it that" I smirked bringing a spoonful of frosted flakes up to my lips. Connor grunted loudly and then walked out of the kitchen. I rolled my eyes at his reaction and sat down at the kitchen table so that I could finish my food. I had just finished and was taking a second to think through what Connor and I were getting ourselves into when I heard someone clear their throat.

"Melanie?" I questioned when I turned around in my chair and saw her standing in the doorway.

"Cassidy, why would Joe do this?" Melanie seemed like she had been crying and I tried my best to keep my voice level and calm so she didn't start crying again.

"Murphy did help kill our family, but I think he is more mad that Connor threatened and hurt me so many times, I'm the only really family Joe has left, and he will jeopardize everything to keep me safe" I sighed to myself. I knew everything I was saying was true, but I also knew that Connor would do anything to protect Murphy, so this whole thing was bound to end horribly.

"I love him so much, I can't imagine the pain Joe is causing him, if I wasn't hurt I would go with you" Melanie seemed really let down that she couldn't go.

"Mel, it's better that you stay here just in case Murphy comes back, I'll make sure I do everything in my power to make sure he is ok, even if that means getting in between Connor and Joe" I explained and Melanie nodded her head, I could tell the tears were going to start falling at any second so I immediately went over to her and hugged her.

Connor's POV

I was eavesdropping on Cassidy and Melanie's conversation and the fact that she told Melanie she would do whatever she could to keep Murphy safe stirred something inside me. No woman was ever close enough to Murphy and I to care that much and it tugged at my heart as the kitchen went silent. Things were going to get complicated, it was Cassidy and I versus our brothers, but I had a feeling I was willing to do more to protect my brother than Cassidy was. There were still no voices coming from the kitchen, but I could hear sniffling as I stood just outside, after a few more seconds I decided their conversation was over and we needed to get a move on.

"Time ta go, finish ya goodbyes" I walked in and stood next to Cassidy. She looked up at me with a slight glare, but I knew she knew it was time to go.

"Be safe Cassidy, I don't want to lose you too" Melanie paused and then looked at me, "I'm still pissed at you" She smiled slightly and I couldn't help but laugh, "But bring him back to me in one piece" Melanie nodded and then hugged me. I was surprised by the sudden contact and affection shown by her, it was so odd especially after I shot her. I looked to Cassidy for some sort of hint as to what to do, but she was just silently laughing. I did my best to gently pat Melanie on the back and then I grabbed onto her shoulders and held her at arm length before I spoke.

"Don' worry, nobody messes wit a MacManus" I smirked and she nodded her head and walked out of the room.

"You ready for this?" Cassidy walked over to me and gazed into my eyes and it seemed like she was searching for something.

"I'm always ready, da question is 're ya ready for what's gonna 'appen ta ya brudder?" I looked down on her and she looked away quickly and then back up at me.

"Whatever it takes" She dropped her head back to its normal position and walked out of the room. It was three simple words, but those were fighting words that I loved to hear, Cassidy was well on her way to fitting in with us.

We made it out to the car and Cassidy got into the drivers side and I glared at her.

"Last time we took this car you had no idea how to drive it, so don't give me that shit, just 'cause I'm a girl doesn't mean anything, now get your sexist ass in the car" She was on fire today and it just fueled whatever string that was pulling at my heart. I pushed all those thoughts out of my mind and tried my best to focus on what was most important to me and that was getting my brother back.

"So where exactly do ya tink Joe took 'em?" I asked once we were driving into downtown Boston.

"No idea, but we have a few places, through the mob, where we take people when we need to interrogate them" Cassidy replied and I nodded at the information she had divulged.

"Where to first?" I asked and she just glanced at me with a mischievous grin stretched across her lips.

"Wouldn't you like to know" She replied and then everything went black.

Cassidy's POV

I was slightly pained at the fact that I had to knock Connor unconscious in order to get to the first location. I had a feeling he was going to be very pissed when he woke up so I hit the gas a little harder, because I sure as hell didn't want him waking up in the car.

We finally made it to the location and I put the car in park and looked over at Connor, although he was unconscious, nit looked like he was just peacefully taking a nap. As I continued to stare at his masculine features he started to stir and I braced myself for an explosion.

"What the fuck!" Connor yelled and immediately reached out for me but I quickly opened the door behind me and fell out of the car onto my back. I figured the pain in my back would be more inviting than the pain in my face Connor wanted to cause. I scurried to my feet and dusted myself off just in time to be confronted by Connor as he stood in front of me.

"'re ya fuckin' crazy why the fuck did ya knock me out?" Connor was still yelling and there was a husky rasp to his voice and it was making my stomach do back flips.

"Yes, I am crazy, but that's not why I deck ya, I can't have you knowing the location of my secure facilities, you understand right?" I looked at him with a kind face and he just groaned.

"Women" He growled under his breath and I couldn't help but laugh, "So what now?" He asked and I walked to the back of the car and popped the trunk.

"Arm ourselves and storm the castle" I saw Connor's eyes light up a bit at my comment and I was beginning to think he was rubbing off on me because I was actually excited to go on a hunt.

"Ready?" I asked looking over at Connor as we stood at the entrance to the building, Connor nodded at me and then opened the door and walked in. We did an entire sweep of the building and found nothing, I was slightly disappointed at that fact, but made my way back to the car with a neutral expression on my face. Connor, on the other hand, was cussing under his breath the whole time, when we finally got back in the car he shut up and looked at me.

"What?" I asked confused by the stare he had focused on me.

"Don' fuckin' punch me 'gain" He warned. I couldn't help but smirk a little bit as he continued to glare at me.

"Well then you have to wear a blindfold" I took out a tie from the back seat and waved it in front of his face.

"Fine" he snatched it out of my hands and admired the silk tie, "Whose tie?" He asked and I looked down at the steering wheel.

"Joe's" I answered and waited for some snarky comment from Connor or a groan or growl, but when I looked over at him he had the tie tied around his head covering his eyes and was leaned back in his seat. I took a few too many second to admire him once again and he peeked out of the blindfold and looked at me.

"We ain't got all day" He winked and I rolled my eyes and focused back on the car and got back on the main road and headed to the next facility.

Murphy's POV

I was lying on the floor trying to catch my breath after the burly guy had stood me up and punched me so hard in the jaw that I fell to the ground. Just as I was about to get up he grabbed me by my shirt and hurled me back onto my feet and readied for another hit. I stood my ground and closed my eyes and listened to the room, when I heard movement I ducked and then brought my fist up into the mans gut. Although the man was very fit, he doubled over in pain and I was finally able to get the upper hand. I didn't stop I continued to hit him in every place I could think of and tried my best to keep him down. I heard the door behind me open and I turned around just in time to see two more men run in and tackle me to the floor. All three of the men were hitting me as I defended against their attacks and struck back whenever I could, finally the three stopped and when my eyes focused Joe was standing over me.

"Come on, get ya 'ands dirty for once" I teased wanting Joe to actually put up a fight instead of sending his dirty henchmen in to get the job done.

"You had enough yet, because I have forty other men that would love to get their hands on you" Joe threatened and spat in his face. Joe angrily wiped his face off and then grabbed a fistful of my shirt and brought me close to him, "Keep this up and we may have to kill your brother first and force you to watch" He hissed in my face and I struggled out of his grip at the mention of my brother being killed.

"So you're true weakness is your brother, but what if I threaten to hurt Melanie" Joe dropped me to the ground and I jumped up and rushed at him full of rage. Before I could make contact with his face like I wanted to the burly guy grabbed a hold of me and held my arms behind me.

"She is your true weakness, wouldn't your brother be heartbroken" Joe laughed in my face and I growled under my breath.

"Ya kill Melanie 'nd ya sister won't be too 'appy wit ya" I looked into his eyes and he just laughed harder.

"You honestly think I'm afraid of my sister, it really is a shame that she's in love with your brother, though she always has had bad taste in men" Joe smirked and I stared at him confused.

"Sir a car registered to Cassidy Morelli just pulled up, there are two people in the vehicle, what do we do?" A man walked into the room and approached Joe.

"Ya should be 'fraid of _both _ya sister 'nd my brudder" I warned and Joe looked at me shocked before hurrying out of the room with his henchmen. I smiled to myself as I laid back onto the cold floor and waited for Connor and Cassidy to barge in.

**A/N: So one more chapter closer to 50! Hope everyone enjoys. Song for this chapter is Next Contestant by Nickelback. Thanks **_Sissymac_** for the review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	47. Chapter 47

Cassidy's POV

"Ok you can take the blindfold off now" I turned the car off and looked around before opening my door. I walked back to the truck and opened it and was finally joined by Connor. We both picked our weapons of choice once again and headed towards the facility. I was slightly terrified about walking into this facility, it was very big and there were a lot of places that people could be hiding, I had a sinking suspicion that Joe was here and he was fully aware I was there. I took a deep breath and started for the door, but suddenly a hand wrapped around my arm gently.

"Ya ok?" Connor asked when I turned and looked at him. I tried by best to put on a brave face and trudge on, but I had to admit I was shaking in my boots. This facility wasn't only big and had hiding places it was also a facility that haunted my dreams. When I was little my father took me here when he had some business to attend to, both Joe and I were taken to a separate room and occupied with toys and company, but I will never forget the screams I heard and the scene I saw when walking back out of the building.

"Yea, I'm good" I swallowed hard and Connor looked at me with worry on his face, "Don't worry about me, we need to get Murphy out" I explained and turned back toward the main door.

Murphy's POV

Once again the door opened, but this time I was surprised to see a very frazzled Joe walk in and approach me.

"I am going to let you go for now, you will wander the halls, find your brother and lure him into a room and trap him there" He explained and I couldn't help but laugh in his face, clearly this man wasn't hearing anything I was saying when it came to protecting my brother.

"Hell no" I spat at him.

"Do it, or Melanie will die" He threatened and I glared at him.

"Ya would kill ya own cousin ta get me 'nd Connor?" I questioned and Joe just walked in a very agitated circle.

"Do it, or both of them die, you can only save one" He offered and I was overwhelmed by the decision I was faced with. I loved Melanie and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, but Connor was my brother, my only family left and I loved him as well.

"Fine" I growled. As soon as I had made my final decision Joe got closer to me and whispered in my ear.

"I'm letting you go this once, but don't think I won't try to find you again, if you want to live you better leave this country without another thought" Joe finished and stepped away guiding me towards the door. I looked up towards the ceiling and groaned to myself asking god for forgiveness for what I was about to do.

Connor's POV

I watched Cassidy carefully as we approached the building, I cleared my throat and she looked at me confused. I motioned for her to get behind me and for once she didn't argue with me and I took the lead and entered into the building. We quietly made our way down the main hallway and Cassidy whispered directions to me as we made our way deeper into the maze. I continued to walk and when I got to a crossroads I turned to look at Cassidy, but she was no longer there. I looked around frustrated and couldn't see her anywhere so I backtracked and went the way we came until I saw her back turn a corner. I immediately quickened my pace and headed after her and when I finally caught up to her she was standing in front of a door just staring.

"Cassidy" I whispered and she was clearly in her own world as she ignored me, "Cassidy" I reached out and placed my hand on her shoulder and she immediately jumped and turned to glare at me.

"What?" She growled agitated at me.

"Ya wandered off" I replied, trying not to irritate her anymore.

"Oh" She sighed and then turned back the way we came and started to lead the way down the hallway. We continued on and on and I felt like we would never find the end or find anyone in the building if they were even there.

"Cassidy" I whispered and she stopped and looked at me, "It's gonna take us hours ta search dis place" I explained and Cassidy just looked around trying to think.

"We can do it" She was speaking, but she seemed distant and distracted. Without another word, Cassidy started walking again and I didn't really have a choice so I followed again. We rounded a corner and I saw someone, but I was certain that it couldn't be him just walking around the place like he owned it.

Murphy's POV

I made my way around the maze of a place and tried my best to listen for any noise that would take me to my brother and Cassidy. I had been walking for a good ten or twenty minutes when I finally rounded a corner and saw him.

"Connor" I called and he seemed to look at me and question whether I was real or not and I couldn't help but smirk at my brother's uneasiness. I approached him and finally embraced him in a hug. After our brotherly embrace Cassidy cleared her throat and we both looked at me, I stepped over and hugged her as well and she smiled at me when I backed away.

"This doesn't seem right, what's going on?" Cassidy asked looking at me.

"I escaped, Joe never saw a ting" I explained, it pained me to lie to the two of them, but in the end I needed to protect Melanie, and I wouldn't put it past Joe to actually cause her harm, "We need to get outta 'ere before he realizes" I added and started walking back the way I came. Cassidy and Connor followed me and I tried to think of a way to get the two separated and Connor into the specified room I needed too.

"Do ya know where ya goin'?" Connor asked me and I just mumbled a response that I hoped he took as a yes. We continued on as I led the way and I walked into a room to my left, as before, both followed me in and as soon as they were both in the room I rushed out and shut the door, locking it behind me. I looked through the small window at my brother and pleaded with him not to do anything stupid, and with that I left to try and find Joe so I could get the hell out of this place and make sure Melanie was alright.

Cassidy's POV

"What the hell?" I questioned racing to the door and jiggling the handle, it was no use thought, the door had been locked on the outside by Murphy.

"Don' bother" Connor said and he sounded bored with the whole situation and I turned and saw him just standing there.

"Your brother just locked us in a room, doesn't that concern you?" I questioned walking over to Connor and trying to look him in the eyes, but he kept avoiding my gaze.

"Must be somting dey 're holdin' over 'is 'ead" Connor explained and leaned against the nearest wall and took a seat.

"Like what, the only thing he cares about is you, yet he crossed you" I started thinking out loud and it suddenly dawned on me, "Melanie, Joe threatened Melanie, that's the only other person in this world Murphy would die to protect, that dirty son of a bitch, threatening to hurt his own cousin, oh when I get out of here I am so going to-" Connor groaned very loudly cutting me off and I looked over at him with a questioning look on my face.

"No sense in talkin' 'bout it, we gonna be 'ere for a while" Connor leaned his head back against the wall and glanced up at me. I sighed lightly to myself and figured he was right and made myself comfortable on the floor. I had a sudden thought to try and call Melanie to see if she was alright, but when I took out my phone I was angered to see that Joe had activated the device that block cell phone signals.

"I don't suppose you have a satellite phone hidden anywhere?" I asked and Connor just looked at me oddly, "Didn't think so, worth a shot though" I shrugged. As we sat there I was panicking internally trying to figure out just what Joe was going to do, I knew he wanted to kill Connor for everything he had done, but I didn't want to face that truth just yet.

It seemed like days later, but what had actually been a few hours, when I woke up and looked around the room and saw it wasn't the same as the previous one.

"Connor?" I questioned and then realized I had been using someone's lap as a pillow and was relieved when I looked up and was met by Connor's sky blue eyes that immediately calmed me down.

"I'm 'ere" He responded and stretched his arms after his little nap as well.

"Still nothing?" I asked and he nodded in response, I hated the waiting game, if Joe was going to do something why didn't he just do it already.

Murphy's POV

I finally found Joe and told him exactly where I took Connor, I failed to mention to him that Cassidy was also stuck in there with him, I figured that would be my payback for all the beatings he gave me. After my job was done I regrettably left and ignored the pain in my heart as I left Connor behind, but there was another part of my heart that needed to see if Melanie was ok. I found my way out of the building and caught the next bus at the first bus stop I could find.

I practically ran from the bus stop to the Morelli mansion and banged on the door and rang the doorbell several time until Melanie finally answered the door.

"Murphy?" She questioned, almost like she didn't believe it was me. I immediately stormed in the door and embraced her in a very over due kiss, I deepened kiss as I wrapped my arms around her body and never wanted to let her go.

"You're alive" She spoke like she was unsure, like I was just a figment of her imagination, "I thought I'd lost you" She let a few tears fall as she looked down at our intertwined hands.

"I'm not goin' anywhere" I assured her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before wiping away her tears.

"Cassidy, Connor, they helped you right, where are they?" She tried to look behind me to see if they were coming and I reluctant to tell her what was really going on.

"They were der" I stated and then looked down.

"Murph', your eye, let me go get you some ice, come into the kitchen and sit down, are you in any pain" Melanie rambled on and on about me and how I looked, I didn't feel all that bad on the outside, it was the guilt of leaving my brother that was eating me alive.

Cassidy's POV

The waiting was really getting to me, so much so that I started pacing back and forth in the room, it wasn't until Connor physically stopped me from moving that I settled down.

"I'm sorry about all this" I apologized for the second or third time, I had lost count over the events that unfolded.

"Don'" Connor spoke and his voice sounded very deep and very out of place.

"Everything ok?" I asked sitting down next to him. Connor was about to respond when the door to the room we were in suddenly opened and Joe walked in.

"Joe, what is all this, let us go" I walked up to him and he just glared at me.

"You weren't supposed to get involved in this Cassidy" he shook his head.

"Well I am involved in this, so deal with it" I growled and tried my best to look intimidating.

"So how did you like your brother betraying you for some girl" Joe pushed me aside and approached Connor. I tried my best to pull Joe away from him, but he shoved me away and got up in Connor's face.

"It's not nice ta treat a lady like dat" Connor glanced at me quickly before focusing back on Joe.

"She's not a lady by any means" Joe spat and I was shocked. The man my brother used to be was gone and now he was this animal that only wanted revenge and he didn't care who he hurt to get it.

"You threatened to hurt Mel, didn't you, your own cousin Joe, what is wrong with you" I walked over to him and yanked on his arm, he instinctively ripped his arm away and glared at me, but this time I returned the glare.

"Stay out of this Cass" Joe sneered and it just made me angrier.

"Joe, you know everything about this man, don't do this, do the right thing and forgive him" I tried to reason with my brother, but he once again shoved me away and this time I hit the wall and scraped my arm up pretty badly. Connor glanced at me once again and then focused on Joe, but this time I could see the darkness had taken away the sky blue color that was once there, I couldn't help but feel butterflies in my stomach because this could mean that he actually returned my love. I shook my head at the thought, because now was not the time to be thinking about whether Connor MacManus loved me or not.

"So, are you ready to pay for your sins?" Joe asked Connor and Connor actually laughed in my brother's face. I thought for a second Joe's head was going to pop right off, but he surprisingly kept his cool and waited for Connor to respond.

"Only if ya pay for yours first" Connor held up one of the guns that he used on a daily basis when making kiss with his brother, and I wasn't aware he had even packed one. Joe looked up the barrel of the gun and never broke eye contact with Connor, my heart was racing at the whole encounter and I felt my feet moving without me being aware of it. The next thing I knew I was standing in between the two men, both had guns out pointing at each other through me.

"Enough of this!" Joe yelled and looked at me before taking a step to his left to get a clean shot at Connor.

"No!" I yelled as three gunshots went off and I dropped to the ground at the sight in front of me.

**A/N: So, sorry about the jumping around in POV in this chapter, but I felt like some of them were needed. Hope everyone enjoys! No song, exhausted tonight! Thanks **_Sissymac_** and **_Audrey Whyte_** for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	48. Chapter 48

Melanie's POV

I doctored Murphy up and sat down with him at the kitchen table.

"So what happened Murph', why aren't Connor and Cassidy with you?" I finally asked and Murphy didn't seem to want to look up at me.

"Joe threatened ta 'urt ya if I dint 'elp 'em" Murphy finally looked up at me and I could see the hurt in his eyes. I knew he had sacrificed a lot by leaving his brother behind, but I couldn't help but feel very touched that he had done so just to protect me.

"Joe, really" I spoke aloud and couldn't really believe that my own cousin would threaten to hurt me just to take a stab at the Saints.

"Yea, I 'ad ta choose, either you or Connor, I've known Connor a long time, I want to know ya for all da time ta come" Murphy tried a soft smile and I was about to melt to the floor. I had never heard anything so sweet, I knew at that moment that Murphy was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and nothing would ever change that.

"I'm so glad you're ok" I stood up and walked over to him and took a seat on his lap before kissing him on the lips. Murphy deepened the kiss and I moaned into the sudden intensity of the kiss. I wanted so badly to give into the desires that were awakening throughout my body, but I knew Murphy would need some time to rest and regain his strength. Murphy suddenly pulled away from me and lifted me off his lap, when I was standing on my own two feet Murphy stood up and left the room, I figured I would let him be and I sat down on his chair and heaved a sigh of relief.

Cassidy's POV

As I knelt there on the floor the tears started streaming down my face and I so badly wanted everything to just go back to the way it used to be, I wanted to go to the club that first night I met Connor and make sure none of this ever happened again.

"Cassidy" The familiar voice just made all my thoughts bubble up and turn into anger and I immediately lashed out at it.

"This is your fault, you made me do this" I growled at Connor without turning to face him, I was too focused on the body of my brother laying lifelessly in front of me. I looked at the three bullet holes I had put into his chest and the tears just fell faster.

"Sadie" Connor knelt down next to me and tried to put his arm around me, but I immediately turned around and pushed him away.

"He was my brother!" I yelled at him. I was so furious with the two of them for putting me in this situation, but in the end it was me who pulled the trigger and I would have to live with the fact that I killed my brother for the rest of my life, and I just did think I could bare the pain.

"Cassidy, we need ta get outta 'ere" Connor tried to reach out for me again and I smacked his hand before it could touch me.

"No, I'm not leaving" I stood up and was walking towards the back of the room when Connor grabbed my hand and whipped me around and wrapped me in his arms. At first I welcomed the familiar embrace, that was until I remembered who it was doing the hugging and I tried to push away, but Connor just held onto me as tight as he could. After trying to struggle out of his grasp for a few minutes I finally gave into the embrace and held onto Connor for dear life. I was feeling so many emotions that I couldn't stand anymore and Connor solely dropped to the ground with me and held me as I cried my eyes out.

"Sadie" Connor spoke softly and I could feel his head shift as he looked down at me, I was so afraid to look up at him because I blamed him for what had happened, but I also did it because I loved him so much, "Sadie" He called again and I forced myself to look up at him and a few fresh tears fell from eyes and he wiped them away for me.

"He's gone" I whispered as more of a statement than a question.

"Yes" Connor nodded his head slightly and I snuggled back into his chest as I let a few more tears fall from my eyes. Finally I was out of tears to cry and I wiped my face clean as Connor continued to hold me and finally made real eye contact with the man who had saved me countless times, but this time it was I who got to save him.

"He was different, Joe would never do these things" I shook my head and I looked behind me at Joe's still lifeless body lying there.

"He was still ya brudder, I'm sorry ya 'ad ta do dat" Connor placed a hand under my chin and made me look at him, "But ya dint 'ave ta" I looked deep into his eyes and I could see what he meant. Connor wanted me to be happy, he knew how much it hurt me to kill my brother and he was wishing that I had just let Joe kill him, but what he didn't know was that I would have been ten times more upset if he had died instead of Joe.

"I did" I responded and blinked slowly telling him more than just the two simple words I spoke. We sat there for a few more minutes, Connor just holding me as I leaned my head into is chest for warmth and comfort.

"Connor?" I broke the silence and pulled away from his chest as he looked down at me, "I'm glad you're ok" I sighed, as much as I loved my brother, Connor was someone I was really connecting with and having adventures in life with and I so badly wanted to see how everything would work out in the end.

"I'm glad ya'r ok too" Connor nodded to himself and then looked over at Joe's body before looking back down at me, I could see he was piecing things together in his mind and I was beginning to get embarrassed about the whole thing.

"Well I suppose we should get going" I was running on adrenaline and strange emotions as I walked around the room gathering weapons and such that we had brought in.

"Cassidy, slow down a sec" Connor grabbed my hand and laced his fingers in between mine. I looked down at my hand before looking up at Connor and he had a very strange expression on his face.

"Connor, you're right we need to leave, I need fresh air, this room feels so small and cramped, and I'm beginning to freak out" I was speaking a mile a minute and Connor just continued to hold my hand. 'Fuck it' I said in my mind and I closed the gap between Connor and I and kissed in violently, I so badly needed more than just a hug, the emotions were right on the surface and they need to burst free. I could tell Connor was caught off guard by the sudden intimacy because he leaned back at first, but then used his body weight to overpower me as he had his arm wrapped around my mid back keeping me close to him. When I pulled away my mind and body both screamed at me to continue, but I knew it was neither the time nor the place to be doing anything like that with Connor.

We made it out to the car and I took a deep breath and let the night air fill my lungs and I felt the weight of the emotions lessen.

"Do ya want me ta drive?" Connor asked and I had been so focused on breathing that I forgot Connor was even with me.

"Um, yea, if you don't mind" I was still disoriented from everything, so when Connor responded telling me it was fine with him I handed him the keys without a second thought.

Connor's POV

A few minutes into the drive back to the Morelli mansion Cassidy had fallen asleep, so that had left me trapped in silence in the car. Although I hated the silence, I was glad that Cassidy was able to get some sleep especially after everything that had happened throughout the day. When I pulled into the driveway of the mansion Cassidy was still asleep, so I parked the car, opened the garage door, and quietly lifted Cassidy out of the car and carried her into the house.

"Connor" I walked in and Melanie approached me, as soon as she saw Cassidy in my arms she started to freak out, "Oh my god, is she ok, what happened?" She rambled on and on.

"Shut up" I whisper yelled, "Cassidy is asleep, I'll explain in a moment" I walked up the stairs with Cassidy still in my arms and placed her gently in her bed. I was reluctant to leave her, but I knew I needed to explain to Melanie what had happened, and I needed to find my brother. I walked out of Cassidy's room and practically ran into Murphy as he was coming out of the upstairs bathroom.

"Connor?" He questioned and reached a hand out and touched my shoulder.

"Yea, not jus' a figment of ya imagination" I smirked and Murphy hugged me once again, "Now let's not make dat a 'abit" I patted him on the back as we headed towards the stairs.

"So what happened, how did you and Cassidy get out of there?" Melanie asked as we sat in the living room.

"Well, after Murph' forced us inta da room, it was a waitin' game until Joe finally came in, Cassidy tried 'er best ta get 'em to retink everyting, but it was no use, he was 'ell bent on killin' me, both of us pulled out our weapons, Joe was 'bout ta shoot me when Cassidy stepped in between us and just before Joe pulled da trigger, Cassidy shot 'em" I finished and Melanie looked horrified.

"Joe is dead" She asked.

"As a doornail" I nodded.

"Glad ya made it outta der brudder" Murphy clapped me on the shoulder and I looked to him with a smile.

"Cassidy shot Joe" Melanie was still trying to wrap her head around the whole situation and I couldn't help but laugh at her uneasiness about the happenings.

"I don' know, but after all dat I need a drink" I got up and walked into the kitchen and searched the cabinet for the liquor key.

"Here I'll get it for ya, I could use a drink as well" I was shocked to hear Cassidy's voice as she entered the kitchen and pushed me aside so she could grab the key.

"Ya doin' ok?" I asked.

"Ya know, I really am tired of people, especially you, always asking that, let's just assume that from now on, I am never ok, last time I checked my life was a living hell, so nothing is ever ok" Cassidy turned her back to me and walked out to the liquor cabinet, seconds later she returned with a very old looking bottle.

"What's dat?" I asked and Cassidy opened the bottle and looked at it carefully before pouring two glasses.

"Whiskey, from the year Joe was born, dad thought it would be cool to buy bottles that were made the year we were born, so that we could pass it onto our kids and they could drink is it as a remembrance after we died" Cassidy looked down at her glass before taking a very big drink. I was hesitant to grab the second glass, I still felt semi-responsible for the death of her brother, so I didn't think it was right for me to drink his whiskey.

"Here" Cassidy handed me the glass and I tried to give it back to her, but she insisted, "As much as he hated you, he would want you to drink it, as stupid as it may sound, you make me happy, so that would make him happy, he just had a hard time looking past some of your career choices" Cassidy smirked and I was so happy to see that she was showing another emotion besides sadness or passion.

"To Joe" I said taking the glass from her and clinking it with hers before taking a drink, "Dis is damn good whiskey" I said before taking another drink and then walking over to the kitchen table to take a seat. Cassidy soon followed suit and sat down next to me at the table.

"This is sure going to take getting used to" She seemed to be talking to fill a void because she wasn't necessarily talking to me.

"What is?" I asked anyway.

"Being alone, everyone that cares about me is dead except Melanie, I have no family left, you and I killed them all" Cassidy laughed to herself before taking another drink out of her glass and I couldn't help but feel bad. All this time I was just doing what I thought was right, what I knew was right, but I never thought about how much it really did hurt Cassidy. It was then that it dawned on me, I cared now how my actions affected Cassidy now opposed to earlier, because I cared for her, I really honestly cared for her.

"I care 'bout what 'appens ta ya" I responded and Cassidy looked over at me with shock on her face and I did my best to play if off like it was something normal and not that important as I took another drink of my whiskey.

"Good" I looked at Cassidy and she was just smiling to herself before she got up to pour herself another glass of whiskey in remembrance of her brother.

**A/N: So that was crazy, Connor actually letting some feelings out, but not anything Cassidy wants to hear yet! Hope everyone enjoys! Thanks **_Sissymac_** and **_McBrideReedusLover_** for the reviews. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please! Song for this chapter is If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away by Justin Moore. RIP and thank you to all Veterans who have served, are serving, and will serve, Happy Memorial Day.**


	49. Chapter 49

Melanie's POV

Murphy and I were still sitting in the living room talking when I saw Cassidy out of the corner of my eye, she walked down the stairs and straight into the kitchen, and for once I decided to let her be instead of trying to protect her from Connor.

"I'm really glad you're ok, but Joe made a mess of your face" I snuggled into Murphy's chest as we lay on the couch.

"Don' hurt much" Murphy shrugged and I just smiled into his shirt. I had been frantic the whole time he was gone and he was finally here in my arms and I didn't know what to do.

"Hopefully it doesn't ruin your good features, because I don't know if I could stand you after that" I looked up at him with a devious smirk on my face.

"Oh really" He looked down at me his brows furrowed.

"Yeah" I continued to smirk and Murphy soon attacked my lips as punishment. We rolled around on the couch for a few minutes until our fun was interrupted by a man's throat being cleared. Both of us stopped in our tracks and Murphy was the first to stand up and look at Connor as he stood there with a worried look on his face.

"I'm gonna take Cassidy upstairs so she can get some more rest, you two keep it down" Connor warned as he looked from Murphy to me. I could tell my the look on Connor's eyes that he was concerned about Cassidy and that he wasn't kidding in his warning for us to keep quiet.

"Night" I called after the two as they headed up the stairs and I presumed into Cassidy's bedroom.

"Well that spoiled some much needed fun" I frowned flopping back down on the couch. Before I could add anything else to my comment Murphy had swept me up in his arms and carried me out to the back porch.

Cassidy's POV

Connor walked with me up to my room and I stumbled over to my bed and folded the covers down and was about to get into bed when I turned wrong and my wound on my side throbbed.

"Damnit" I hollered and Connor looked at me sharply with a questioning look on his face, "Gun shot" I answered and he made a face of understanding. All of a sudden the man of so many words was at a loss for them.

"I think I'm going to go take a bath and soak my muscles" I suggested and in my head a little voice screamed out for me to ask Connor to join me. I ignored the voice and turned my back to Connor as I made my way to my bathroom, I walked in and shut the door, not locking it, and started to take off my clothes. It seemed odd to me to close the door, after all Connor had seen me naked plenty of times, but it still seemed proper to close the door when bathing. I brought the water to the proper temperature and added some bath salts before sticking my foot in slightly and pulling it back out, it was always fun, the rush of plunging into a hot bath and letting everything relax, but something was stopping me.

"Need some 'elp?" I heard Connor's voice call from behind me and I was unaware that he had opened the door and walked in until he wrapped his arms around my waist. I leaned my body into his and placed my head in the curve of his neck as he kissed my neck softly, even after everything that happened, Connor still had power over me when it came to the touch of his lips on my skin.

"I am a little sore" I turned in his arms and smirked as I looked up at him, he looked down at me like an animal, and I couldn't help but feel right at home with his wild side. Connor soon released me and quickly undressed and hopped into the tub, not even reacting to the scolding water, soon after he looked at me and for once in my life I was hesitant about my next move. I was never hesitant in my whole life, until I met Connor, I wasn't even hesitant when I shot my brother, but when it came to things intimately with Connor I was so hesitant to let myself relax. Finally Connor reached out a hand and grabbed mine and pulled me closer to the tub, the steam coming off the water was calling to me and the blue in Connor's eyes was my lullaby. I braved the hot water and finally made myself comfortable on Connor and placed my head back into the curve of his neck. The water seemed to wash all my troubles away, but I still felt all the terrible feelings from earlier that night deep in my stomach. I tried my best to push them down and not feel them, but they kept creeping up to the surface and ruining my bath time. After relaxing for a few minutes I decided that I really needed to wash the events of the day off of me so I reached for my loofa, but was stopped by Connor. He grabbed the loofa himself and had me point out which body wash to use and he lathered it up and proceeded to wash my body. Every so often Connor would use both hands, one with the loofa and the other just with left over suds, he ran his hand up my arm and around my shoulder and then down my side, then back up and over the top of my breast, then up to my next and back down my arm again. I kept my eyes closed as I laid on his chest and mentally followed his hand as it caressed my body so gingerly. Finally, the water got cold and the bath was over, but I so badly didn't want to move from my comfortable spot. Connor helped me up in the tub and drained the water, but without any instruction he turned on the shower head and hot water started beating on his face and I couldn't help but laugh at his face as he tried to look at me through the water.

"Ya tink dat's funny" He leaned down to look at me without the water in his face and brought me close to him so it was my face the water was now hitting.

"Hey" I groaned and pushed away from him, but he grabbed me and held me tight against him. I was still very well tipsy from the amount of whiskey I drank and wasn't very graceful on my feet, so when I almost stumbled on my feet trying to get away from Connor once again, he caught me with such grace I looked at him wide eyed. It only took a few seconds of staring into those blue eyes in this position for me to lose complete control and lean up and kiss him. I was caught of guard by Connor lifting my upright and deepening the kiss and he backed us into the water again. It was such a picturesque moment when I opened my eyes and looked at Connor as the water pushed his normally short spikey hair down onto his forehead. I smiled to myself as his blue eyes shined down on me through the clear water. Suddenly the hot water we had been using cut out as a threat that we were running out of stored hot water and I had to hide my groan. I regrettingly reached down and turned of the water and grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself before throwing one to Connor. I did my best to dry off my hair and take off my make up that had been on for far too many days and finished up my nightly routine with brushing my teeth. When I turned around I was startled to see that Connor was fully dressed and just staring at me.

"Take a picture, it last longer" I stuck out my tongue like a little kid and Connor just shook his head. I walked out of the bathroom and went into my closet and found some comfy, yet not ratting looking pajamas. When I emerged from my closet I saw Connor laying in bed and when I got closer, I noticed that he had already drifted off to sleep, as much as there were things I wanted to do after that time in the shower, I settled for a nice sleep instead as I crawled into bed and closed my eyes.

Melanie's POV

Murphy had talked me into getting into the hot tub and after a few minutes of soaking in the nice hot water, Murphy looked at me with wild eyes.

"Can I help you?" I asked sarcastically.

"I don' know can ya?" Murphy scooted closer to me and I smirked at his teasing.

"Screw the foreplay, you've been away for far too long" I immediately straddled his hips under the water and kissed him deeply. We hadn't been very close to each other since before Cassidy got shot, I think I was right in saying both of our bodies craved each other. Murphy did his best to keep up with me as I grinded my hips into his, I had to give him the benefit of the doubt, he was beaten the day before and that morning. We continued to kiss and run our hands up and down each other's bodies as our hips moved in a synchronized rhythm. We both picked up the pace and increased the deepness of our kisses and it wasn't soon before both of us climaxed and heaved a sigh of pleasure. Murphy kissed me a few more times on my neck and nibbled on my ear as I tried to catch my breath. It felt so good to finally be back with him and to have him safe, but it wasn't until after we finished and the euphoria and adrenaline wore off that my wound on my hip began to burn like hell. Murphy immediately jumped into action and pulled up his swimming trunks before hopping out and helping me out of the hot tub. This time it was his turn to doctor me as he laid me down on the couch and searched for the first aid kit I had, had earlier. Moments later Murphy reappeared with the first aid kit and a few shots of tequila.

"'ere, dis'll make da pain go away for a bit" He handed me a shot and I willingly took it. I laughed to myself and got a funny look from Murphy as I thought back to a time when I didn't know the MacManus brothers, I was shy and couldn't handle my liquor, and jumped at the sight of a gun; now I drank just like them, walked, talked, and acted like them, just in a ladylike fashion.

"There, bandaged up and ready ta go" Murphy closed the first aid kit and set it on the table in front of the couch and sat down next to me.

"Guess this means no more fun for a few days until that heals some" I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and I saw him take a deep breath.

"Yea, s'pose" He stretched out his arms and wrapped one around me as he used the other to reach for the remote and turn on the TV.

"Oh, can we watch my show?" I asked and looked at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Now, what's ya show?" He asked right back and I snatched the remote out of his hands and went to the DVR, ever since I had watched that first episode of the Walking Dead that day, I had been religiously taping each episode.

"Previously on AMC's The Walking Dead" The voice came over the TV and my favorite character Daryl appeared and started mouthing off to Rick.

"The Walking Dead, what is dis shit 'bout?" Murphy asked and I tried to explain to him what the overall plot was and what exactly had happened in the previous episodes, "Da redneck seems like a dumbass" Murphy scoffed to himself.

"Yea, but he's dreamy" I smirked as I watched Murphy's face turn sour, "But not as dreamy as you" I kissed him on the check and settled into his side trying to make myself comfortable again with my wound acting up.

Connor's POV

I woke up slightly and was about to roll over and go back to sleep when I heard what sounded like whimpering. I sat up in bed and looked around the room for a dog or something, but only found a charcoal grey cat padding out of the room. I laid back down and was about to close my eyes when I heard it again, but this time it was followed by a yell and a few words. I turned to look at Cassidy as she was flailing around in bed, clearly having a nightmare.

"Joe, don't, love, Connor, make, this" I could only make out a few words, but from what I heard, it seemed like she was reliving the horror of shooting her brother. I was afraid to wake her up because she would just freak out some more, so I did the only thing I knew to do and I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me. Suddenly she stopped thrashing and he eyes flittered open and stared at me.

"You're alive" She breathed.

"Yes" I answered.

"But you died" She reached up and placed a hand on my face as she admired my facial features.

"I'm very much alive Sadie" I reassured her.

"Joe killed you" She shook her head and before I could try to explain anything she fell back asleep and was quiet and still. I placed her back on her pillow and watched her for a good twenty minutes before I felt it was safe to go back to sleep. In the morning I would need to deal with this, but for now everyone needed some sleep.

**A/N: One more chapter and I'm at 50! Wow that's crazy! Hope everyone enjoys this very intense chapter. Song for this chapter is Doin' Dirt by Maroon 5. Thanks **_McBrideReedusLove, Sissymac_**, and **_Audrey Whyte_** for the reviews, three of them on one chapter, really made my day! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	50. Chapter 50

Cassidy's POV

I rolled over in bed and slowly opened my eyes and glanced at Connor and noticed that he was wide awake and watching me.

"Good morning?" I questioned and he immediately sat up in bed and looked at me with concern blanketing his face.

"Mornin'" Connor continued to watch me carefully.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked sitting up and looking over at Connor. It seemed like Connor was afraid of me, like he was tip-toeing around me.

"Do ya remember anyting from last night?" Connor asked and I rubbed my face and scratched the back of my head, trying to fully wake up.

"I remember taking a bath" I shyly looked away as Connor continued to watch me, "Am I supposed to remember anything else?" I questioned.

"No dreams or anyting?" Connor questioned and I turned my attention back on him and tilted my head slightly.

"Dreams, what are you going on about, you aren't making any sense Connor" I shook off the real sense he was making as I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. I remembered my dreams just perfectly from last night and I didn't want to admit to Connor that I had dreamt he had died and not Joe.

"Sadie" He called and I turned around and looked into his eyes, but before I could say anything I heard the doorbell ring down stairs. I walked over to my closet and grabbed a silky house robe before racing out of the room and down the stairs. I had to admit that I wasn't surprised when I opened the door and saw the chief of police standing on my doorstep.

"Miss Morreli, I'm afraid I have some bad news" He started and bowed his head. I felt bad that I wasn't reacting to what he called bad news, but I was still numb from everything that had happened last night and I could bare to feel anymore.

"Go on" I stated and he immediately look up at me and briefly looked confused before he continued.

"We found a body" He paused and I groaned low in my throat getting aggravated by his slow presentation of his news, "It was Joe, three gun shots to the chest, clean, no pain" He explained. I stood there and didn't know what to do, it wasn't until the chief was blatantly staring at me and asking if I was ok, that I finally snapped out of it.

"Yea, I'm fine, thank you for letting me know, I will make the arrangements" I informed him and with that he tipped his hat to me and walked away. I closed the door and sighed, once again I would have to be in charge of a funeral.

"Everything ok?" Melanie startled me as she walked towards me.

"What do you think" I groaned, really getting tired of people asking me that. I pushed myself off of the door and made my way into the kitchen to search for advil and coffee.

"You were asleep last night when you guys came in, I just wanted to make sure you were alright, I mean he was your brother" Melanie had followed me into the kitchen and was sitting at the table when I turned around with two cups of coffee in hand.

"The man I shot in that place was not my brother, he may have looked like him, but he was far different from the man that I grew up with" I looked down at the dark brown coffee rippling in my mug, it seemed so odd, that everything just went on, Joe was dead, but I woke up in the morning and had some coffee just like any other day.

"Cassidy?" Melanie broke my concentration and I looked at her with my brows furrowed and my nose slightly scrunched up.

"How do they do it?" I shook my head questioningly.

"How does who do what?" Melanie looked around the room slightly confused by my question.

"Connor and Murphy, how do they kill and just go on with their lives like it never happened" I paused to take a drink of my coffee.

"Ya 'ave ta believe ya did da right ting" A voice interrupted my thoughts and I shifted my eyes up over my mug to see Connor standing, leaning against the doorframe.

"What?" Melanie asked turning and looking at Connor. He never once glanced at Melanie he shoved himself away from the doorframe and stalked toward me, never taking his eyes off of mine.

"Do ya believe in what ya did?" He asked and I finally put the mug down. I broke eye contact with him for a few seconds to collect my thoughts as I looked down at my hands. Suddenly I was looking at him again and he had his hand under my chin keeping my eyes locked on his.

"Was it the right ting?" He asked his voice getting lower, almost a whisper.

"Yes" I breathed out and it wasn't even words, it was air that escaped my mouth.

"Hmm?" He leaned in closer to my face.

"Yes, it was the right thing because it saved you" He stopped his hand from my chin and started to walk out of the room.

"Dat's how ya live wit it, ya keep tellin' yaself it was da right ting" He turned to look at me before walking out of the room leaving Melanie and I sitting there confused.

Connor's POV

I left Cassidy with Melanie and decided to go find Murphy, I walked up the stairs and peaked into Melanie's room, where I found Murphy still sleeping.

"Get up" I commanded and nudged the bed. Murphy groaned and turned onto his back and looked up at me.

"What for?" He asked and I scratched the back of my head before deciding on my reasons.

"We need ta get back to da apartment, check some stuff out" I tried to think of reasons why we would need to go back and that was all I could come up with.

"Check what out, everyone is safe 'ere" Murphy finally sat up in bed and stretched his arms out. I stood there dumbfounded, normally Murphy wouldn't ask so many damn questions and we would already be on our way back to the apartment.

"Ya wanna leave, why?" Murphy stood up and looked at me. I hated the thought of leaving Cassidy at a time like this, but it was all too much, everything was so far out of my comfort zone that I didn't know how to handle it.

"Never mind then, I'll go on my own" I turned and walked out of the room and into Cassidy's, I was shocked when Murphy didn't follow after me hounding me for more information, but when I saw Cassidy sitting at her mirror brushing her hair I was glad he hadn't.

"Hey" She called when she saw me in the mirror, "Thanks for that downstairs, I really needed it" She smiled and I just continued to stand there. I was very content with watching her every move as she brushed her blonde hair free of tangles.

"I also wanted to tell you that you were right, I did dream something last night, I dreamt you were the one who died and not Joe, the world was so much different without you, I continued with the mob, Joe settled down and had kids, I was finally an aunt" She laughed to herself, "I got married, had a son, and then he took over the business when he was 18, but Murphy killed him for revenge for Joe killing you" She was shaking her head now, the brush sitting on the table in front of her.

"Melanie moved away, Murphy went mad after Joe killed you, it took him two years to finally get away from where he was being held, I lost track of Melanie she was on the streets, wouldn't talk to me, she blamed me for your death and everything that happened, I did too" She paused once more and finally turned to face me, "The dream was so real Connor, you have no idea how real it was, I was a mother, and good one, and my friend took him away from me, when I woke up and saw you, I couldn't believe that you were real, that you were reality and not my dream world, it was horrible" Her eyes were glossy and I could tell that it had upset her to talk about it, but she was strong and she was fighting back the tears.

"Well, I'm right 'ere, and if I find da asshole ya married I'll kill 'em" I nodded at her and it got get to smile and actually laugh. The sound of her laughter sounded strained and I took a step towards her, "I'm not goin' anywhere" I promised her, and even thought minutes before I wanted to leave this place and never return, I saw that there was actually something here for me, and I couldn't run away now, not after everything that had gone down.

"Everyone says that, but they all leave in the end, I'm all that's left, but I'm strong and I'll push on I suppose" She seemed to be cleansing her body of sad emotions, because when she stood up she had a smile on her face and pep in her step, she really never ceased to amaze me.

"But dat's not what I'm gonna do" I grabbed her wrist and pulled he to me like I had after killing on of her uncles, and just like before she spun into me and our lips touched.

"You can't promise that, I'm the mob and you are the Saint, we don't mix, we don't mix" She repeated it twice, the second time low under her breath.

"We can work togedder" I suggested and she shook her head.

"I think you should leave, go back to what you did before, come after me again if you feel like it, but you don't need me hanging around you anymore, you've made that very clear" She finished and walked away from me. For the first time ever, I was actually hurt, not physically hurt, but my heart ached and my mind was going crazy, this wasn't me, yet all the same it was.

"I told ya, I'm not goin' anywhere" I glared in her direction and she turned and looked at me from her closet. There was a flash of something playful and then something scared, but it was soon replaced by the hard business exterior that Cassidy Morelli was so famously known for.

"You aren't, are you" She turned her full attention onto me and arched her left eyebrow, "And what makes you think I won't just make you leave" She threatened and I couldn't help myself from laughing at her poor attempt to make me shake in my boots.

"'Oney we both know ya ain't capable of dat" I smirked.

"Oh really" She took a few steps towards me and there was something wild in her eyes, something raw, something killer, "You know I've killed a man once" She got up in my face and I couldn't tell if she was making a joke or if she was being serious.

"I've killed more, and saved ya'r ass too many times for my liking" I smirked and she backed away with an almost hurt expression on her face.

"Well then why the hell do you keep savin' me, if ya wanted to get rid of me why don't ya go an do it, no instead you had to make me fall in love with you and kill to protect you, I saved you, you ungrateful son of a bitch!" Cassidy was now yelling at me and I was so shocked that everything had escalated so quickly.

"Hold on a sec" I started, but she turned and glared at me with fire in her eyes, and it reminded me of some of our first encounters when she was so mad at me that I thought she would actually pull the trigger.

"No, I've had my heart broken too many times, I've lost too many people in my life" Her voice was quieter, but her face still said she was pissed.

"Then I'm not gonna be another person ya lose" I took a step towards her, closing the gap she had created again.

"I want to lose you, you cause nothing but pain" There it was again, that aching in my chest, damn she was good with her words.

"Well I don' want ta lose ya" I looked down at her and he head immediately snapped up so she could look me in the eyes.

"What?" She squeaked.

"Ya 'eard me" I nodded my head. The fire that was previously in her eyes was slowly being dampened as she continued to keep her eyes locked on mine.

"Why?" She asked once more in a squeak.

"Ya sure do ask a lotta questions" I grumbled under my breath.

"Why?" She demanded.

"Because I care 'bout ya" I paused and she seemed deflated.

"Oh ok" She took an exasperated step back from me, her shoulders slumped slightly inward and a very sad looking expression on her face, and there it was again the aching in my heart, damn, that was really getting annoying.

"Listen-" I started, but she cut me off.

"I should really get to work on the funeral and such for Joe, since it was the right thing, I'll be able to get some things done, thanks for the advice and concern" And with that she practically shut me out, I was left standing there in the middle of her room like an idiot, she wouldn't even look at me, and the aching in my chest started up again. I groaned as I walked out of the room and down the stairs to try and find something to stop the agonizing pain I was feeling.

**A/N: So how mad are you at Connor? Ha. Hope everyone enjoys! No song, took me a while to get this done. 50 CHAPTERS! Woo! Thanks **_Sissymac _**and **_McBrideReedusLover _**for your continued support through this story, really means a lot! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	51. Chapter 51

Melanie's POV

I heard someone coming down the stairs and was surprised when Connor walked into the kitchen and started rummaging through the cabinets while rubbing at his chest.

"Everything ok over there?" I asked and Connor immediately froze.

"What, yea, all good" He waved me off and continued to search he cabinets.

"Looking for anything in particular?" I stood up and walked over to the counter next to him. He seemed frustrated or in pain and there was a franticness in his movements that slightly worried me.

"Pain, I've got pain" He looked down and slightly shook his head as he continued to rub at his chest.

"Advil" I opened the cabinet to the left of him and grabbed the bottle and pressed it into his palm, "Though I'm not sure that's going to help the type of pain you're experiencing" I scoffed and started to pour myself another cup of coffee.

"What?" Connor turned and looked at me and I smirked as I kept my head down and focused on pouring the thick brown liquid into my mug.

"The pain right there" I poked Connor in the chest where he had previously been rubbing and I was afraid for a moment that he was going to attack me, but when I saw he was not on the offensive, I continued, "No Advil will help that" I smirked and looked at him over my coffee mug. He looked at me with a very confused expression on his face and I knew he was very lost.

"That's heart ache you're feeling you dumbass" I laughed and left him to his thoughts after I poured another cup of coffee to take to Murphy in the living room.

"What are ya smirkin' 'bout?" Murphy asked as I sat down on the couch and handed him his mug.

"You're idiot brother is lovestruck" I giggled to myself and Murphy looked at me and I had to control my laughter because he looked like he had just been told the world was ending, "Stop it please, I can't breath" I squeaked out in between fits of laughter.

"My brudder?" Murphy asked and I nodded my head as a response. Murphy shook his head and rubbed his forehead as he pondered the thought and the rand his hand through his hair and scratched the back of his neck before looking back at me. The look on his face still struck me as funny and I couldn't stop myself from laughing once again.

"All laughing aside, it is sad" I stated and suddenly got very serious. Murphy looked at me once again confused by my sudden change in emotion.

"What makes ya say dat?" He questioned and I shrugged before settling into the side of his chest, as I got comfortable on the couch.

"Cassidy loves him, and now he loves her, he just doesn't know, it's kind of tragic that they can't see just how much they love each other" I explained and Murphy just shook his head.

"Ya girls and your overthinking keeps ya from seeing anything, ya get obsessed with relationships, no wonder men are afraid of ya" Murphy spoke and I turned around and glared up at him and he just smiled down at me.

"You better watch what you say about us women, because last I checked, you needed us to have pleasurable sex" I smirked wickedly and Murphy immediately changed his tune and tried to suck up to me, but I did my best rich girl impression and stuck up my nose to him.

"Melanie, I need your help with something" Cassidy's voice floated into the living room and she could have had better timing, because I was serious about punishing Murphy for that little comment.

"What can I do for ya?" I asked as soon as I made it into the dining room where she had set up shop.

"Which arrangement do you like better for the flowers to go on the casket, I kind of like theses, but Joe would kill me if there were purple flowers on his grave, but these don't have any pazzaz, I don't know, there will be the whole Boston PD, should I ask them" Cassidy rambled on and on and finally stopped to take a breath and I could tell she was still on the verge of cracking. Losing Uncle Geoff had cracked her, but losing Joe by her own hands had shattered her all the way to the core, though she would never admit it.

"Cassidy, you need to slow down you are on fast forward, take a second to stop and think" I started to approach her, but just like a butterfly, she got spooked and started to flutter onto other things.

"These flowers, now Joe won't want any of the mob guys there, not with the cops all there, how do I keep them out, they will want to pay their respects, two wakes, two funerals, no that won't work" She started pacing and rambling and I final had, had enough.

"Cassidy!" I yelled and she stopped and looked at me shocked, "Stop moving, stay there, don't say anything, just stop" She continued to study me, but to my surprise she had listened and was standing there silent.

"I want you to take a deep breath and relax for five seconds, just five seconds, so you don't spontaneously combust" I demanded and she actually sucked air into her lungs and let it out slowly. I had to admit I was slightly jumping in triumph inside, because Cassidy Isabella Morelli had never actually listened to me.

"Now sit down and I'll bring you a glass of water" I walked into the kitchen and was shocked to see that Connor was asleep at the table a glass of water in hand pushed out in front of his head resting on the wooden table top. I had to stop myself from stopping and admiring the cuteness of the situation, before I walked over to the cabinet and grabbed a glass and filled it with water. When I walked back into the dinning room Cassidy was still sitting where I left her and she willingly accepted the glass of water and sipped on it periodically.

"Thanks" She sighed and I almost asked her to repeat it, but I figured she was under enough stress as it was and I didn't need to make it any worse by having her repeat her gratitude.

"Anytime, but Cassidy, you have got to slow down, this stress is going to kill you, and I wont have that" I tried a small smile and I was relieved when she returned it and relaxed into the chair she was sitting on.

"Do you know where-" I cut Cassidy and pointed to the kitchen, I knew she was about to ask where Connor was and I figured it would be cute for her to walk in on him napping.

Cassidy's POV

I was as calm as I would be for the next few days as I walked into the kitchen and discovered Connor sleeping on the table. I looked around the room suspiciously and slowly approached him. The encounter we had, had in my room had been so strange and I wanted so badly to just talk to him and have him say anything back to me, even if it was that he hated me and never wanted to see me again. Not only my emotions, but his constantly confused me as well, it seemed like one moment he was all over me and the next he was afraid to touch me, I knew one thing for sure, I loved him.

"Connor?" I whispered and he didn't stir, I slowly approached him and just prayed he wasn't having a terrible dream when I woke him up.

"Connor?" I took the glass of water away from him and sat down in the chair next to his before I ran the back of my hand lightly over the side of his cheek. He stirred slightly and made a sound that sounded like a groan and a sigh combined.

"Connor?" I spoke one more time and his eyes shot open and he looked up at me with his head still rested on the table. Connor sat up proper in his chair and stretched slightly before speaking to me.

"Hey" It was one word, but it was all I needed to feel dramatically better, I was lovestruck by Connor and I was ok with that, the man made me feel like I could conquer the world and comforted me when I thought I couldn't.

"I see you decided to take a little nap, didn't sleep well last night?" I asked and scooted his glass of water back towards him and he picked it up and took a drink.

"Was a little worried 'bout ya after everyting" He confessed and I smiled shyly as Connor was slowly opening up to me.

"Sorry, didn't mean to keep you up" I apologized and he looked at me like I had said something terribly wrong.

"Don' apaologize" I had to stop my jaw from hitting the floor as Connor sat there and continued to look at me. I realized that I had been silent for an abnormally odd period of time and cleared my throat before I spoke.

"Well, you're welcome to go an take a nap in bed, instead of resting on a hard table top" I suggested and he waved me off.

"I'll be good, beds at 'ome aren't too much nicer dan this table" He chuckled to himself and I smiled back at him. Suddenly everything went silent and we were just sitting there awkwardly, "Ya know, it should really be me doin' da apologizing" Connor confessed and I tilted my head slightly, not understanding what he meant.

"Ya saved my worthless life by takin' out ya brudder 'nd I never thanked ya" Connor rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke and that was one clue to me that he was very uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"Apology accepted" I smirked and he looked up at me shocked, "Besides, I saw the world that didn't have you in it, and I like this one better, even if I still have you as a thorn in my side" I laughed and Connor's eyes brightened up.

"So we're back to normal, no more" He paused, "Whatever dat was up der" He waved his hand towards the stairs and I nodded.

"No more" I reassured him and things started to not feel as weird between us, but I could still feel the pang of hurt left over from the realization that he had no feelings for me.

"Cassidy" Connor spoke my name and I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him expectantly. Connor shook his head almost fighting with himself about a thought that wanted to creep out of his mind.

"There's, just" Connor trailed off and I so badly wanted him to just spit out what he was trying to say, "Do ya need 'elp wit anyting?" He finally asked and I wanted to scream because it definitely wasn't what I wanted him to say.

"Well I'm sure you don't want to help me with funeral arrangements" I paused and he just continued to look at me. I was so confused and so badly wanted to know what was going on in his head, but sadly he was locked up tight like a bank safe.

"Well if ya don' want me ta 'elp" Connor almost seemed hurt by what I had said and it automatically made me feel bad.

"You can help if you would like" I backtracked and his eyes lit up at my words and I couldn't help but smile.

"Don' see anyting else ta do" He shrugged his shoulders trying to play it off as he was not really interested in helping, but I knew that he really did want to help.

"Well come on then" I pushed my chair back and abruptly stood and waited for Connor to wake up some more and start moving. I led Connor into the dinning room and showed him just what I was trying to decide and he helped make some of the decisions that I was having difficulty with. As much as I hated Connor sometimes, for the things he put me through, he was still the one person that I turned to lately when my world felt like it was crashing down around me, there was just something about him that made me feel at peace, something that felt like home.

Melanie's POV

Murphy was rambling on about something that was on the TV, but my focus was on Connor and Cassidy in the dinning room they were actually working together and not threatening to kill anyone. I honestly just wanted to walk in there and spill the beans about Connor being in love with Cassidy, but I didn't, I wanted Connor to break out of his stubborn shell and face his love like a man, like his brother had with me. I glanced at Murphy and smiled and he stopped talking and looked at me funny.

"What?" He questioned as I continued to smile at him.

"Oh, nothing, just admiring the view" My smile turned into a wicked smirk and Murphy was getting the hints I was dropping and carefully picked me up and carried me upstairs and into my bed room.

Cassidy's POV

I heard giggiling and when I turned around to see what it was I saw Murphy carrying Meanie up the stairs, I rolled my eyes at the whole thing and turned back to my work.

"What was dat all about?" Connor asked and I glanced up at him, acting like I didn't know what he was talking about.

"What was what about?" I questioned back and Connor gave me his best 'I know you're hiding something' look.

"The rollin' of the eyes and the growl" Connor looked down as he gathered together some of the papers we had spread out on the dinning room table. I swallowed hard as I tried to think, I thought I had only rolled my eyes, but apparently I also growled, stupid body making noises I didn't permit.

"Did I do that?" I shrugged my shoulder, "I didn't notice" I ended the conversation by grabbing papers and walking out into the hallway and slipping into the secret mob room. It felt so weird being in here after no doing business for so long, with there being no major problems with moving the product there wasn't much need for regular meetings, but I thought I should get one together just to check up on things.

"So what's dis room?" Connor walked up behind me and I turned to take the papers he was holding before answering.

"Mob room" I ran my hand over the back of my chair, I felt closure, having the man who killed my family in the room that all of those family members had been in, and I sighed to myself as the emotions and worries were lifted away.

"Ya-" Connor stopped himself before he asked me if I was ok, I smiled to myself because he had actually listened to me when I told him to stop asking me that.

"I'm fine, really" I turned and smiled at him before I jumped up on my tippy toes and planted a quick kiss on his lips before leaving the room. If only he knew just how fine I was with all of this.

**A/N: So now I'm working towards 60 chapters, only 9 more to go! Can't wait to see where this goes. Sorry that it has been a little dull lately, but everyone knows that happiness cannot last for long with the saints! Hope you enjoy! Song for this chapter is Devil Inside by INXS. Thanks **_Sissymac_** for the review! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	52. Chapter 52

Melanie's POV

Murphy and I were laying on our backs in my bed trying to catch our breath from the interaction we had just had. I had winced through the pain from my wound in order to enjoy the intimacy with Murphy, and it was well worth it. I turned slightly to face Murphy and just admired what was mine, I was seriously so thankful everyday that I had someone to enjoy life with, and I was so thankful that he had returned to me after he had been taken away.

"I love you" I whispered and Murphy glanced over at me an a small smile spread across his face.

"Love ya too" He moved so he could kiss me easily and gave me a quick but deep kiss on the lips. After he had returned to laying on his back I followed suit and sighed heavily.

"What was dat sigh for?" Murphy asked and propped himself up on his elbow so he could look at me.

"Just trying to absorb this moment, I never want our happiness to end, but I know that it won't be long until something else goes wrong, and I can't help but worry about Cassidy and even Connor, what if something happens to them" My mind was flooded with all these horrible thoughts of just what could happen to any of us, both Murphy and Connor were at risk just being near Cassidy and I. It would break my heart if anything happened to Murphy because of me, and I knew he felt the same way when it came to his lifestyle.

"Ya worry too much" Murphy scoffed and sat up in bed and rubbed a hand over his face and then scratched his head before looking down at me.

"Murph' you're a Saint and Cassidy is the head of the mob, both of you have enemies that include the Russian mob now, and I just don't want anything to happen to you, you promised me before that nothing would happen, but Joe took you and you could have been killed" I stopped and looked up at him and he just shook his head.

"I wasn't though" He replied and I rolled my eyes, a typical answer from a man when it came to a woman worrying.

"That's not the point" I groaned and pushed myself up and out of bed. I grabbed my clothes that were dusted across the room and walked into the bathroom to refresh myself. Standing in the middle of my bathroom and staring at myself in the mirror, I felt like something had changed, I didn't look the same, I looked tougher and harder, like I had seen things others weren't meant to see and survive. I assumed it was Murphy's influence and job that had created these changes and I wasn't sure if I was on board with them, I liked my old life, fun clubs and living the high life, but I felt like I had lived more in the past few months than I ever had in my entire life. I got dressed and then decided to look at my face and apply some makeup, my eyes, staring back at me were almost trying to tell me something, but I immediately ignored it and started to walk out of the bathroom, until something horrible popped into my head and I immediately turned around rushed back to my vanity.

Cassidy's POV

I had left Connor downstairs and had headed up to my room and used the time alone to try and control all the emotions that seemed to be surging through my body. I still couldn't believe that I had growled earlier without even knowing, and the fact that my body was practically pulsating every time I looked at Connor was driving me crazy. I was finding it harder and harder to actually keep control, but there was still a part of me that so badly wanted to know just what Connor felt for me, what he honestly and truly felt for me, but I also knew deep down that he would never actually tell me. I needed to talk to someone about all of this, and the only person I could trust would be Melanie. I got up off my lounger in my room and headed out of my door and walked over to Melanie's. I knocked lightly and I head Murphy say come in, when I opened the door, I was for once not shocked to see he was naked and in bed, but at least he was under the covers.

"Hey Murph' where's Mel?" I asked and he pointed to the bathroom door, "Mel, it's me Cassidy, everything ok in there?" I asked and the door swung open and I was pulled in before I knew what was going on.

"Geez Mel, what the heck" I gained my balance and focused on Melanie standing in front of me, "Oh god, what's wrong?" I asked worried, Melanie was standing in front of me, her face was super pale and she looked like she had seen a ghost.

"I'm late" Two simple words, but they had sent my jaw to the floor.

"What?" I questioned, not believing I had heard he right.

"I just checked my calendar, I'm a week late, Cassidy what if I'm pregnant" She was pacing back and forth in her bathroom with her hand pressed against he forehead.

"Calm down, there is no need to panic" I was telling both her and myself. Finally I got a hold of the situation and grabbed onto Melanie's shoulders to make her stop pacing, "We don't know for sure what is going on, we need to go to the store and get a pregnancy test" I told her and she started shaking her head uncontrollably.

"No, no, no, Murphy will know, oh god, what is he going to think, Cassidy I'm scared" Melanie leaned into me and I wrapped my arms around her and comforted her as she sniffled into my shoulder.

"Now stop, you are a strong woman, now calm down and we are going to take this one step at a time, but the first step is for you to walk out of this bathroom without freaking out, then we will go to the drug store and get a pregnancy test and if its positive or negative we will assess the situation" I finished my little speech and Melanie backed away from me and nodded her head in agreement.

"Okay, are you ready to go?" I asked and she nodded once again. Melanie grabbed a tissue and wiped her eyes before following me towards the door to the bathroom.

"Murphy, we are headed out we will be back later, don't burn down the house while we are out" I smirked and we left the room, leaving behind a very confused Murphy. We headed down the stairs and past the kitchen when Connor stepped out and stopped me.

"We need ta talk" Connor looked me in the eyes and I actually glanced at Melanie and thought about leaving her to see what Connor had to say, but when I saw the look in Melanie's eyes I knew I couldn't leave her.

"Connor, now isn't a good time, we are headed out, we can talk later, right?" I watched Connor and he seemed deflated at my question.

"Sure" He stated and vanished back into the kitchen, I felt so bad for leaving him like that, but Melanie needed me more, so I made my decision and followed through. Melanie and I made our way out to the garage and got in the car before pulling out and heading down the road and into the city to the drug store.

Connor's POV

I walked back into the kitchen after Cassidy had told me she was leaving and we would need to talk later and I was a little disappointed. I had finally mustered up some courage to talk to her about what we had left off talking about back at McGinty's, but she had to go and leave. I had decided to make some lunch when Murphy walked in and started rummaging through the cabinets looking for something.

"Can I 'elp ya wit somting?" I asked as he continued to look through the cabinets.

"No" Murphy stopped and looked at me exasperated.

"Ya look like ya been 'it by a bus" I smirked and Murphy just shook his head.

"Somting is wrong with Mel, I jus' know it" Murphy shook his head and walked over and sat down at the table, "Cassidy walked inta 'er bathroom 'nd dey were in der for a while 'nd den when dey came out dey left" Murphy was rubbing his forehead and I could tell he was seriously worried about Melanie. I had to hold back my laughter because it was comical to see my brother so worried about a woman.

"Well maybe she figured out she don't like guys anymore" I laughed and when I glanced at my brother, he was glaring at me and for once I was a little afraid of my brother's stare.

"Conn" He warned and I could tell he was legitimately worried about everything.

"Murph', it's gonna be fine ya know women, dey sometime have a wild hair to go shoppin', dat's all that's goin' on" I tried to reassure him, but he didn't seem to be absorbing my words.

"She was talkin' 'bout how dangerous our lives were, what if she tinks it's too dangerous and wants to back out" Murphy was being ridiculous at this point and worrying about things that were not meant for men to worry bout.

"Murph' can ya 'ear yaself, ya talkin' crazy" I shook my head and went back to making my sandwich.

"Connor, I don' know what's wrong wit me, she's my everyting, I chose her over ya, and I don' wanna lose 'er" Murphy confessed and I was surprised my brother was divulging this information. I had to admit I was a little shocked that he had chose Melanie over me, but I could also understand where he was coming from, so I wasn't going to hold that against him, but I would so use the fact that he was wrapped around Melanie's finger to my advantage at some point.

"Murph' she adores ya, and if she stuck around dis long, she ain't goin' anywhere" Finally some of my wisdom was making it through my brother's thick skull as he nodded in agreement, "Everyting is jus' fine" I spoke with a mouth full of my ham sandwich and Murphy just shook his head at me in disbelief.

Cassidy's POV

We made it to the drug store and went in, Melanie was still frazzled about the whole thing and was terrified to even go anywhere near the pregnancy section, so it was up to me to go and get the tests. I walked down the aisle and started looking at all the different brands, there were some that let you know weeks before your body did, there were some with easy to read screens, hell there were even some that talked to you, I was so confused about what to get as I stood in the middle of the aisle.

"Excuse me" Someone called from behind me as I held two different pregnancy tests in my hand. When I turned around to say sorry I was shocked to see Alex standing there, as soon as he recognized me he looked around worriedly.

"Connor isn't with me" I smirked a little, apparently that one punch from Connor had set Alex straight, "So what brings you here?" I asked.

"Just picking up some essentials, chips and toothpaste" He smiled.

"Ah, yes, can't go on without chips and toothpaste" I laughed and then Alex looked at what I was holding in my hands and his mood changed dramatically.

"I think congrats maybe be in order" He pointed to the tests in my hand.

"Oh, these aren't for me" I waved my hands and shook my head. If I wasn't embarrassed before about seeing Alex again I sure as hell was embarrassed now.

"Well even if they were, that guys would be one lucky bastard" Alex smiled before walking away to finish his shopping. I hurried up and grabbed a few tests and headed for the check out, I noticed Melanie had walked out to the car and was pacing again, so I had to check out on my own.

"Oh, is this all for you dearie?" The check out lady asked and I nodded yes, "Looks like you might be expecting, congrats if they say yes" She said, and I didn't even bother telling her that they weren't for me, I paid for them said my thank you's and goodbye's and left.

"I hope you're happy, I ran into Alex and he thought I was buying these for me, and the check out lady thought I was pregnant too, I don't look pregnant do I?" I questioned spinning around and looking down at my stomach. All the while, Melanie was laughing, as much as I liked that she was in a better mood, I didn't like the fact that she was laughing at me.

"Oh shut up and get in the car" I grumbled and she tried to control her laughter as she got in the car and we pulled out of the drug store.

We made it home and Melanie practically ran out of the car and all the way up the stairs. I laughed to myself at the nervousness of Melanie and the secretness of her actions. When I walked into the kitchen to grab an apple Connor and Murphy were sitting at the kitchen table talking.

"Wow, you two are actually having a civilized conversation, who knew it was possible" I smirked opening the fridge and looking inside. I found the apple I wanted and walked over to the sink to wash it off before I started to eat it.

"So where did ya and Melanie go?" Connor walked up behind me and asked. I turned towards him and took an aggressive bit out of my apple before responding in mumbles. Connor bit his lip slightly before shaking his head in disbelief. I hurried and took another bite of apple to distract me from the sexiness of him biting his lip and tried to leave the room.

"Cassidy, what's goin' on wit Mel?" Murphy asked and the sad look in his eyes was almost heartbreaking.

"Murph' she will tell you when she's ready" I explained and left the room, taking my apple with me. I walked up to my room and was just rearranging things on my desk as I ate my apple, when I passed my mirror and decided to look at myself. After a few minutes I ended up taking my shirt off and examining my figure from afar, I still felt weird that the check out lady thought I was pregnant, even though I was just buying pregnancy test, it still made me feel self conscious. I traced my hands over the scarring tissue that was around my bullet wound and then I rested a hand just above my belly button. It was weird to think that before I had been shot, there was a little human growing inside of me, when I looked up at myself in the mirror I had a small smile gracing my lips and I was slightly confused, until something broke my concentration.

"Ya dint tell me ya were puttin' on a show" Connor's husky voice came from the other side of the room. I whipped around and stared at him with wide eyes before speaking.

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked, worried that Connor had seen my whole examination.

"Long enough" He stepped further into my room and I looked away from him, "What ya doin' all dis for anyway?" Connor asked and stepped close behind me and ran his one hand up my ribcage, his touch leaving Goosebumps behind and giving me the chills. I wasn't going to tell him anything as I stood there contemplating, that was until he placed both hands on my hips and then gently rubbed circles on my bare skin above my pants with his thumbs. The touch of his skin against mine was driving me crazy and my knees were getting wobbly beneath me.

"I don't look pregnant do I?" I asked and I immediately regretted saying anything, it was like his touch just made me vomit out the question before my brain had fully processed anything.

"What kind of a question is dat, ya aren't are ya?" Connor turned me around and looked down at me. I was hesitant to say anything, I knew I wasn't pregnant, but I couldn't help but think about what Connor had said a while back about having a family with me, "Cassidy" Connor snapped me out of my thoughts, and when I looked into his eyes I saw what looked like hope and fear.

"No, I'm not, someone just said I looked like I was, that's all" I shook my head as I looked down at my feet. Connor lifted my head up so I was making eye contact with him and he planted a kiss on my lips before dropping his hands down to my butt and bringing my hips into his.

"Ya'd tell me if ya were though" Connor looked at me with intent eyes and I felt like I was disappointing him by not being pregnant.

"Of course, for you, I'd tell you anything and everything" I dropped my gaze from his and he growled low in his throat.

"Cassidy" His voice was very low and very rough, and when I looked back up at him, there was a fire burning wildly in his eyes and it just made me want to give into my body even more.

"Yea" I managed to gasp out as I felt him against my thigh.

"I-" Connor was interrupted by Melanie busting into my room screaming and shouting incoherent things. I groaned to myself as the moment was lost and went to tend to my cousin as Connor looked after me with heated eyes.

**A/N: One step closer to 60 chapters, super excited about this chapter, it's over 3000 words! Hope everyone enjoys. And just a little fun tidbit, as of June 10****th**** Sean Patrick Flanery tweeted me back when I asked him a weight loss question, so the Connor MacManus responded, though readers might enjoy that. Song for this chapter is Alone With You by: Jake Owen. Thanks Sissymac for the review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please.**


	53. Chapter 53

Cassidy's POV

I practically dragged Melanie back to her room, after grabbing a t-shirt off my bed, and slammed the door behind me.

"What is it now?" I shouted at her and she sucked in air and looked at me frightened. I groaned audibly and then composed myself better before asking her again in a calmer voice, "What did it say?" I questioned and her face softened and she approached me with the pregnancy test in her hand. I glanced down at it as she held it in front of me and I wasn't surprised to see that it said she was in fact pregnant, granted none of us would know for sure until she went to a doctor and had blood work done.

"Cass" Melanie spoke and I looked up at her and her eyes were misty and it looked like she was going to burst into tears.

"Honey, you've got to tell Murph' he's worried as it is, he needs to know" I explained to her and she slightly nodded her head, knowing it was the right thing to do, but I could see the fear behind her eyes, "I'll go with you if you want, but I think we both know this is something you two need to be alone for" Melanie nodded once again and then left her room with her head hung low. After Melanie left and closed the door behind her I sat down on her chair in the corner of the room and just stared up at the ceiling, I was happy for my cousin, but there was this tiny little piece of me that was jealous, if only because I knew Connor wanted kids and I didn't. Just thinking of Connor at the moment made me want to stay locked in Melanie's room for the rest of my life, the moment we had shared before Melanie busted in was one of the most intimate and terrifying encounters we had ever had, and I was still extremely numb from it. I sat there for a few more minutes when there was a light tap on the door, I stood up just as Melanie opened the door and Murphy followed behind her.

"I'll get out of your way" I nodded to Melanie and smiled at Murphy, trying to ease the tension that had engulfed the room as soon as the door opened. As soon as I was out in the hallway I made a b-line for my parents room and locked the door behind me, I still needed some time before I faced Connor again.

Melanie's POV

Murphy sat down next to me on the edge of my bed and I heaved a very audible sigh, this was probably the hardest thing I had ever had to tell someone, and I so badly didn't want it to scare Murphy off. I could sense that Murphy was very tense and that he thought something horrible was going to happen, but I did my best to reassure him that it was nothing bad. Before I started to speak I reached over and rested my hand on his and he turned his palm up and engulfed my hand with his.

"Murphy" I started and gulped down the tears and emotions that were trying to cut off my ability to speak, "I have something to tell you, it's not for sure, but I think you should know before I do anything to validate it" I kept my gaze on our hands, not baring to actually look into his eyes. Murphy said nothing in reply, so I took it as a sign to continue, "We've been together for a while and I really do love you, I hope you know that" I finally looked up at him and a small smile appeared and quickly disappeared.

"Melanie, jus spit it out already" Murphy whispered and I was slightly shocked at his forwardness, but I figured I shouldn't torture him anymore.

"I'm pregnant, well I might be, I'm late, and the home pregnancy test says I am, but I still need to go to a doctor to really find out, but I might be pregnant" I spat it all out so quickly I was afraid he hadn't heard any of it. I glanced up at him and his eyes were cast down and he seemed to be thinking about something very hard.

"Murphy" I cooed and took my hand from his and placed it on his back, the sudden touch made him look at me and I was shocked to see that his eyes were slightly red, "Murph' what's wrong, I'm sorry, we should have been more careful, if you don't want to stay I understand" I was speaking very rapidly again, but Murphy shut me up by attacking my lips with his.

"What was that for?" I asked as soon as Murphy pulled away.

"Why wouldn't I stay, Mel, I love ya 'nd da fact dat ya might be carryin' a part of both of us in ya, dat only makes me want ta stay more, why would ya ever tink I wouldn't be ok wit dis?" Murphy shook his head in disbelief. I was so shocked by his response that I couldn't think of anything to say at first.

"When ya found out about Cassidy, you were so horribly shocked, I figured if it was you, you would react the same way" I confessed and Murphy shook his head furiously.

"I would never react dat way wit ya, Connor is unpredictable, I was more shocked 'nd worried 'bout Cassidy, plus Connor as a dad, can ya imagine" Murphy laughed and I finally smiled and relaxed. I hadn't realized just how tense I was until the moment when I finally relaxed and enjoyed the moment with Murphy.

"I'm so glad you took it so well" I hugged him and he held onto me like he was holding on for dear life.

"I take it, when ya went out, ya were gettin' tests and such, so Cassidy knows?" Murphy pulled me away for just a second and I nodded, "Good" Murphy pulled me into a hug again and we just sat there on the edge of the bed for the longest time in each others arms.

When we finally emerged form my room and went down stairs we found Connor sitting alone in the living room watching TV.

"Conn, where's Cassidy?" Murphy slowly approached his brother slowly looking around the room.

"Hell if I know" Connor growled never taking his eyes off the TV screen, "Only stuck 'round to tell ya I'm goin' back to da apartment" Connor flipped the TV off and stood up.

"But what about the mob?" I asked and Connor laughed at me.

"Like I give a damn 'bout da mob" Connor retorted and walked out from the couch and looked at his brother, "Well brudder, what'll it be, me or the girl again?" Connor looked at me and winked when he said 'the girl'.

"Conn, there's a bit of a situation, I gotta stay wit 'er" Murphy grabbed my hand and held it tight as he stood up to his brother.

"Figured" Connor shrugged his shoulders before speaking again, "Choose 'em once, ya'll choose 'em again" And with that Connor started walking towards the door, Murphy wasn't doing anything to stop him, so I figured it was my turn to reach out to Connor.

"Connor wait" I called after him and hurried to catch up to him.

"What?" He asked coldly.

"What happened, I know I interrupted something earlier, but it couldn't have been that important that you are this bent out of shape" I grabbed Connors arm to stop him from walking and he glanced down at my touch at them looked into my eyes, and I knew just what I had interrupted and I was mentally kicking myself repeatedly.

"Melanie, I'm goin' 'ome, if she needs me, she knows where to find me" He patted the top of my hand before removing it from his arm and turned to walk towards the front door again.

"But you're coming to the funeral tomorrow, right?" I called after him, but he didn't reply he just shut the door behind him as he walked out.

Cassidy's POV

I heard the bell toll saying that the front door had opened and then closed and I felt a tinge of pain in my heart as I knew it was Connor that had left. Typical Connor though, always leaving when things got just a little too uncomfortable, but also typical me, hiding when things got emotionally scary. I unlocked the door to the room I was in and opened it and screamed in fright when I saw Melanie standing there with her arms crossed across her chest and one foot jutted out in disapproval.

"Geez Melanie, you scared the shit out of me" I grasped at my chest as I tried to catch my breath.

"Connor left" She stated still blocking my way with her disapproving stance.

"I know, I heard" I bowed my head in shame.

"And you just sat up here and allowed him to go, Cassidy, I don't even know who you are anymore, the person I once knew was stronger than this, she was fearless and stood up to Connor when he had a gun pointed at her skull, but this girl standing in front of me, that's hiding in her dead parents' room from him is not someone I am proud to call family" I was extremely hurt by the words coming out of Melanie's mouth, but at the same time I knew what she was saying was true, usually it was me handing out tough love, I guess it was pay back for all those years.

"You're right" I sighed.

"Wait, what was that, please do say it again" Melanie smirked and I groaned.

"You're right, ok, this isn't like me, and it's about time I start acting like the normal me" I nodded affirmatively and Melanie finally let me by. I walked down the hallway and into my room and Melanie followed closely behind.

"So what are you going to do?" She asked and I started rummaging through my closet looking for something badass to wear.

"I'm going to dress like a badass, and I'm not going to back down until he says what I want him to say, I'm not leaving his apartment until he says what I want him to say, I'm not leaving his bed until he says what I want him to say, if that's what it takes" I smirked and Melanie just shook her head. I found a pair of black skinny jeans and slipped them on and then I found a red lacey tank top and quickly put it on as well. I fluffed my hair in the mirror and then looked around my room for my boots, they were my favorite black and silver high-heeled boots, and they always made me feel like I could take over the world. I finally found them and slipped them on and struck a pose for Melanie and she laughed at me. We both headed down the stairs and I walked towards the garage as Melanie stood at the base of the stairs.

"Don't forget the funeral tomorrow, can't stay in bed that long" She winked and I waved a hand as I closed the door behind me. I grabbed the keys to my challenger and unlocked the car, as soon as I opened the garage door I sped out of the driveway and down the road into the city.

When I pulled up outside the apartment complex, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and I was glad I didn't see any familiar faces from the mob or my brother's guys. I turned off the car and walked into the building and started making my way up the stairs, while walking I took out my cell phone and decided to call Connor, just to make sure he was really at home.

"'ello?" He answered and he seemed agitated.

"Connor, is everything ok?" I asked worried by the strain in his voice.

"Oh yea, everyting is jus peaches 'nd ice cream sugar" I scrunched up my face at the phrase Connor had just said and I was really confused.

"Connor, are you high or really, really drunk?" I questioned and I heard a whisper in the background and what sounded like Connor grunting softly.

"Sober as a catholic nun" I could tell he was smirking because I could hear it in his voice, but I could also hear the underlying warning in his voice. Lucky for him though, ever since I met him, I never left home without my gun strapped to my thigh. I kept Connor on the line as I grabbed the gun from its holster and then spoke again.

"That must be a record or something babe, because I've never seen you sober before" I shook my head at the pet name I called him, hoping he got what I was trying to get across. I continued up the steps and looked to see what floor I was on before adding onto my statement, "Well since you're so sober, why don't I stop by around three so we can party it up" I continued up the stairs at a steady pace as I waited for Connor to say something back.

"Sounds good cupcake, better bring three beers" I took that as his way of telling me there were three guys in the room with him.

"How about three bottle of whiskey, I'm more of a go for broke drinker" I laughed a little and Connor cleared his throat to mask my voice that was drifting up the stairwell as I got closer and closer.

"That works too, better go get them now, before the liquor stores close" I stood in front of his door and held the phone close to my face so I could talk low.

"Honey, the store I go to is open 24/7" I hung up the phone and kicked the door in before firing several bullets into the first guy that approached me and then stood in front of the other two as they held their guns pointed at me.

"I'd watch yaselves guys, she's a cold blooded killa" Connor smirked at me and I couldn't help but be turned on by his wild eyes and brilliant smile.

"It's true" I smirked before firing one bullet into both of their chests killing them instantly. When I looked down at the three men dead on the floor, no emotions came to mind, not a stirring of any kind, but when I looked over at Connor and saw the look in his eyes a million emotions came bubbling up.

"You know, this is the second time in the past two days I have saved your ass, it's getting old MacManus" I groaned as I stepped over the bodies and went to untie him, in the middle of untying him I stopped and looked at him.

"How the hell did these three get the drop on you anyway, aren't you some sort of tough guy" I questioned, and it wasn't until Connor cleared his throat and looked down at himself that I realized he was naked.

"Kind of not on the offensive when I'm takin' a shower" I laughed a little and went back to untying him and as soon as he was free he went and put some sweatpants on, "So why exactly were ya 'ere in da first place, not dat I'm not thankful ya were 'eaded dis way, sure saved my ass" He smirked and ran a hand through his hair, leaving it messy and spiked in different directions.

"I was stupid for allowing you to leave" I confessed and Connor was too busy looking at the bodied laying on the floor.

"Ya mind?" Connor nodded towards the window to the fire escape and I shook my head no before going to help him move the bodies, "I was impressed with ya shootin der" Connor complimented and I giggled a little bit.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" I groaned out as I lifted my end of the body.

"Jus fine" He pushed open the window with his elbow and we loaded the first body onto the fire escape.

"These were Joe's men, I recognize this one from one of his parties a few years back" I stated as we picked up the second guy, "Your apartment probably isn't safe anymore, with Joe's guys and mine both surveillancing it" I added and Connor looked up at me and shook his head.

"This is my home, no matter what" Connor retorted as we moved onto the third body.

"I figured you'd say that" It was my turn to shake my head, "Listen Connor, about earlier, Melanie well, Melanie's pregnant, or might be, but that's why she interrupted us earlier" I confessed and after we dumped the last body Connor finally made eye contact with me before he spoke.

"Well good for 'er 'nd Murph'" He dropped his gaze from mine and then went to sit down on his bed. I couldn't help but feel like Connor was mad at me because it wasn't me expecting a child like he wanted.

"Well I guess since you're all of a sudden in a sour mood, I'll just leave" I turned and headed for the door and stopped, but was surprised when Connor didn't protest my leaving. I couldn't hide the pain in my voice when I spoke up again, "Is that ok?" I questioned and Connor didn't even look at me. I sucked up whatever tears were threatening to fall at the lack of interest Connor was showing and reached for the doorknob, but then I was reminded of the fact that I told Melanie I wasn't leaving until I heard what I wanted to hear from him.

"Well, you're not going to get rid of me that easily" I growled and stormed over and stood in front of him with my arms crossed across my chest and tapping my boot against the hardwood floor. Connor looked at my boot and then trailed his eyes up my leg slowly over my hips, up my stomach, over my chest, up my neck and landed his eyes at their final resting spot, locked with mine.

"Nice boots" He smirked and I had to use all my willpower not to just give into him and fall into his bed, instead I picked up my foot and stomped it into his mattress barely missing his most important bits and glared playfully into his eyes, two could very well play this game.

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait for an update, I've been saving this chapter for a while, but I had jury duty this week and just didn't have time. So here it is! I hope you all enjoy, no song because I'm exhausted. Thanks Sissymac for the review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	54. Chapter 54

Melanie's POV

Murphy and I had decided to watch TV after Cassidy had left, but the whole time we sat there watching the fictional shows my mind was thinking about Cassidy and Connor, wondering if they would ever wake up and realize just what is going on between them. Then my mind floated to the fact that I could be pregnant, the second thought made me smile and Murphy looked at me confused.

"What?" I questioned, my smile faltering.

"What ya smilin' 'bout?" He asked and I couldn't help but smile again as the thoughts came back. Looking into Murphy's eyes I knew he would be a great father.

"A boy or a girl?" I asked and this confused Murphy even further. I laughed at the look on Murphy's face before I explained what I meant, "The baby, do you want a boy or a girl?" I asked again and he nodded slowly to himself, finally understanding the question.

"Whatever ya want" Murphy responded and smiled slightly. I practically melted into a puddle at the smile paired with the words he just said, Murphy was no doubt the man of my dreams and he was mine, and he always wanted to be mine even though I was pregnant. I leaned over an wrapped my arms around Murphy's neck before I kissed him on the lips.

"What was dat for?" He asked pulling away slightly, but smiling from ear to ear.

"Because I love you" I smirked and pecked him on the lips quickly. Murphy didn't respond verbally to my words, but the kiss that he planted on my lips and deepened said more than any words.

Cassidy's POV

Connor and I were locked in a staring game as I had my boot still placed between his legs, neither of us faltered as time went on and finally I got fed up and looked away while placing my boot on the floor. I so badly wanted to leave and just back out, but the loud voice in my head screamed for me to suck it up and push on, but my heart was trying to tell me to stay guarded. I finally looked back to Connor and he was still glaring at me playfully, there was a stirring in the base of my stomach and I almost gave in to him, but I stomped my foot down and stood my ground.

"Connor, we need to talk about what exactly is going on" I started and Connor laughed. My eyes narrowed as I looked at him and when he finished laughing his eyes landed on mine again.

"Oh, ya serious" Connor laughed again, "There's nothin' ta talk 'bout" Connor's face went from joking to serious in about a second.

"You are so damn difficult, how is there nothing to talk about when we were just-" I cut myself off and growled in frustration. Connor did this shit all the time, he got under my skin and changed everything I was trying to do.

"Jus' what, is dis 'bout what went down at ya 'ouse?" Connor laughed again and at the moment all it did was piss me off more, "Cassidy, dat wasn't anyting, now I tink it's time for ya ta 'ead 'ome" Connor stood up and was about to place a hand on my shoulder. I dodged his touch and glared at him, trying to imitate the fire that he had stared at me so many times.

"Cassidy, since when do you call me Cassidy, is that all I am to you now, Cassidy the mob boss" I shook my head, everything about Connor was just making me more and more angry until I finally snapped, "What the fuck is wrong with you, are you bi-polar or something, one second you are sweet, the next you're a total ass, I save your life, and you ask me to leave, I'm tired of being afraid of everything I say to you, I may be afraid of losing you, but if I have to tip-toe around you all the god damn time, it's not fucking worth it!" I was yelling at this point and Connor was just standing there confused by my sudden outburst. I was so furious that I started pacing, wondering whether or not I should just leave, but then I'm reminded that I told Melanie I wasn't leaving here until I heard what I wanted to hear. I stood there looking at Connor as he looked at me, both of us silent, both of us standing there completely still.

"Fuck it" I grumbled under my breath and spun on my heel to face the door, "I'm doing what you want, but I'm walking out this door, and I'm never coming back, I'm never acknowledging that I knew you, you will be an enemy of the mob, I never want to see you again if I walk out of this door" All this time my back was to Connor so I let the lonely tear slide down my cheek and fall to the ground. When I didn't hear any response from Connor I took a step forward towards the door and stopped, once again no response, this time I took several steps towards the door and still there was no response. I hid the hurt and the pain that I was feeling from the utter lack of interest from Connor and flung the door open and threatened to step out.

"Sadie" Connor whispered and if I hadn't been holding my breath I wouldn't have heard it. I took a step forward just to see if I had misheard him or something, "Sadie" Connor spoke aloud this time, loud enough for me to hear and I whipped around to look at him across the room, but he was suddenly right in front of me. I sucked in the air that was in front of me from the shock of Connor being there so close so quickly, "Sadie" Connor leaned forwards and his speech was more of a breath, but I understood what he was saying.

"Yes?" I whispered finding it hard to breathe, as Connor was so close to me.

"Sadie, don' leave" He was speaking in my ear now and my breath caught in my throat when I went to speak.

"Why?" I whispered again. My whole body was buzzing from the anticipation and excitement of Connor being so different from his normal self. It felt like forever, with no response I was practically bouncing on my heels wanting to know what he was going to say next, "Connor, why?" I demanded.

"Because I fuckin' love ya" Connor practically growled in my ear and I had to lock my knees to keep myself from falling. I gulped very audibly and didn't say a word, "Sadie, I fuckin' love ya, ya 'ear me" Connor growled in my ear again, but made it ten times worse by nibbling on my ear afterwards.

"Ah, fuck it" I growled under my breath and pulled Connor away from me before smashing my lips against his. It was a power struggle as we both tried our best to outdo the other when it came to our kisses. Without me even noticing we had made our way over to the bed and Connor abruptly stepped away from me breaking the kiss. I looked at him confused and then decided to slowly take off my tank top, but as soon as my shirt had come up a few inches above my belt Connor grabbed my hand and held onto it very firmly. I looked into his eyes and I could see the exciting fire that I loved so much and I couldn't help but smirk. The next thing I knew, Connor had taken off my tank top in one swift motion and then his lips were on mine again. We stood there kissing deeply as Connor's hands roamed by bare skin before they rested on my butt and he pulled me closer to him. I could feel him against me and I nibbled on his lip, trying to tell him to get it over with. Connor suddenly broke the kiss and looked at me with a very disapproving look on his face and I pouted slightly at his disapproval. He went back to kissing me after that and then I felt myself being pushed backwards as Connor slowly laid me down on his bed, not breaking the current kiss. Once I was comfortable on his bed Connor broke the kiss and used his arms to hold himself up so he could look down on my. I locked eyes with him and blinked slowly trying to be a flirt and all he did was smirk. I quickly grabbed onto his face and brought it down to mine as he used his strong arms to lower himself down on top of me. The kisses started on my lips, but slowly his lips made their way down to my neck where he alternated between kisses and playful nibbles. As his lips moved from my neck to the top of my exposed breast I clawed at his back just want him to stop with the teasing and give me what I really wanted. I finally got fed up with the teasing he was doing and pushed him off of me and then it was my turn to be a tease. I straddled his hips and settled in and looked down at him as he stared up at me a little shocked. I leaned down and planted a very soft and quick kiss on his lips while I rotated my hips on his, I smirked into the second kiss I planted on his lips when he groaned in pleasure. Two could very well play this game. Connor bit my bottom lip in protest as I started to grind my hips harder against his, I could feel him more prominently beneath me and I smirked at his discomfort.

"Ya fuckin' tease" Connor growled and I smirked as I sat up and massaged my hands on his chest.

"Mmhmm" I smiled as I continued to move my hips in a circular motion on Connor. Finally he had, had enough and he threw me onto the bed and hovered over me as he practically panted from anticipation. Connor continued our little tease session by crawling down to the end of the bed and slowly taking my boots off.

"These 're nice boots" He took one off and threw it across the room without breaking eye contact with me. He finished taking them off and stripped me of my socks as well before he crawled back up and ran his hand just above my pants. My hips followed his hand as he started to lift his hand away, he leaned up at gave me a quick kiss before kissing me again and this time much deeper. As the kiss continued to deepen, Connor reached one of his hands down and started to unbuckle my belt. As soon as my belt was ripped from my pants Connor used the same hand to unbutton my pants and pushed the zipper down as he trailed a finger against me. I was starting to get really irritated at this point as Connor broke the kiss and crawled down the bed so he could get a better grip on my tight jeans. He started by trailing his hands down my sides and rested them for a moment on my hips before he grabbed onto my jeans and started to peel them off. After he had tossed them onto the ground he came about halfway up and started planting soft and quick kisses on the inside of my thigh, as he got closer and closer to me his other hand was rubbing circles just under my underwear on my opposite hip.

"Connor" I growled through clenched teeth and he tilted his head up and looked at me with a questioning look on his face. I mentally spoke to him and he crawled the rest to the way up and leaned down to bite my lip in response. I closed my eyes, trying to control myself, but I gave into my instincts and reached my own hand down and slipped it into his sweatpants and wrapped a hand around him. Finally he had gotten the severity of my needs and he looked at me with steamy eyes before shedding his sweatpants quickly and landing down into me. I gasped at the sudden force, but was relieved that after so long we were finally together again and in the most intimate way we could be, and Connor MacManus had said he loved me. We rolled around in bed until both of us were satisfied and we collapsed on the bed exhausted. I heaved an audible sigh before I turned in bed to look at Connor with a smile on my face.

"What?" He questioned and he seemed kind of irritated and shy. I instinctively frowned, doubting if he had meant what he said earlier of if he had said that just to get some action.

"Nothing" I said deflated as the happy emotions I had previously been feeling vanished from my mind. I suddenly felt very exposed, like I was a cheap whore that hadn't been paid for her services, so I rolled over in bed and wrapped my arms around myself. As I continued to lay there with my back to Connor and my arms wrapped around me I felt kisses on my neck and jaw line.

"Connor, not now" I tried not to let the hurt slip through in my voice, but I had failed miserably.

"Sadie, what's wrong?" He grabbed onto my shoulder and pushed me to where my back was lying flat on the bed. He looked into my eyes and I had to look away before I said something I was really going to regret.

"Nothing" I stated and kept my arms wrapped around me.

"Well it don' look like nothin'" Connor sounded frustrated now, "Women" he growled under his breath before he pushed himself up and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Men" I retorted angrily as I went back to lying with my back to him. I could feel his eyes on me as I laid there, but I didn't turn to look at him when he stood up and walked over to the window. I glanced at that side of the room and noticed that the sun was just now starting to lower in the sky, I thought for a second that I should just leave him be and go home and get some rest before the funeral tomorrow, but there was a small part of me that was pleading me to stay.

"Ya come a long way" Connor broke the silence in the room and interrupted my thoughts.

"We both have" I added and sat up in bed and stared at his back as he continued to look out the window.

"You were tough before, but I never thought I'd see ya kill" He was obviously looking at the bodies that were out on the fire escape.

"Being around you, your thirst for it kind of rubbed off on me" I watched him for any hidden sign of emotion since his face was turned away from me.

"Don' say dat" Connor shook his head to himself. I finally swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

"Why not, it's true, and I wouldn't have it any other way" I had made it to the middle of the room when Connor turned and looked at me confused.

"Ya'r ok wit dis life, the life I foolishly created for ya" Connor turned back to the window, "I find dat 'ard ta believe" Connor was shaking his head again.

"I'm not saying that I would have chosen to kill all these people on my own, but it wasn't all just you, it was in me to begin with, you just unlocked that part of me" I smiled and finally made it to Connor. I placed a hand on his shoulder and made him turn and look at me, "Plus, I thought you would be proud of me, all my accomplishments" I smirked. I studied Connor's features, and I couldn't tell if he got my joke or he was unhappy with how everything had played out. Out of no where, Connor leaned down and kissed me with a little more forced than I was used to and if it wasn't for his arm that had snaked its way behind my back I would have lost my balance and fell.

"I couldn't be more proud of ya, but 're ya proud of yaself?" Connor questioned and I had to stop and think because it wasn't something I had thought about.

"I killed those people because they were trying to hurt you, and-" I paused and looked down before I continued, "I love you, so yes I'm proud of myself, because I was able to save you, and my brother, he was so blinded by everything that was going on that he couldn't see the real you, I saved you both" I continued to keep my head down as a few tears drifted to the rims of my eyes. Without saying a word, Connor lifted my head so I was looking at him and he smiled, it was such a simple gesture, but it told me everything that Connor was too shy to actually say. I returned the smile and bounced up on my tip toes to give Connor a quick kiss before I walked back to the bed. Before I could reach the bed Connor's arm wrapped around my waist and he spun me around so I was facing him again, before I could say anything about the sudden movement Connor had my head in his hand and was kissing me gently and passionately.

"Connor" I whined as he used his body to push me towards the bed, "I have to get up in the morning" I tried to use an excuse, but Connor picked me up and kissed me before laying me on the bed again, and before I could protest any further he had already entered, and I wasn't about to say no after that.

**A/N: So here is chapter 54, I'm sorry updates have been so off, I've actually been trying not to spend every night on the computer, so that is why updates have been scarce. The song for this chapter is I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers, just because I love the song! Thanks Sissymac and McBrideReedusLover for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	55. Chapter 55

Melanie's POV

I woke up the next morning and went straight to Cassidy's room to see if she had come home yet. I was slightly worried when I opened the door and didn't see her anywhere, I hoped everything was fine and she was ok, but I couldn't help but worry deep down that something had gone wrong. After I had determined that Cassidy want in her room I made my way downstairs to make myself some breakfast before the funeral. I was in the middle of scrambling some eggs when I felt two arms wrap around my waist and a kiss was planted on my neck.

"Mornin'" Murphy whispered in my ear and chills rushed down my spine. I spun in his arms leaving my eggs unattended and kissed him with a smile on my lips as my reply to his greeting.

"You hungry?" I asked and he nodded his head before he made his way over to the coffee pot to start brewing some coffee for our breakfast.

"Ya sleep good?" Murphy asked leaning up against the counter as he waited for food and drink.

"Actually, I slept wonderfully, given everything I've been through my sleep has never faltered" I shrugged as I pushed the eggs around the pan in front of me. It slightly bothered me that I never lost sleep when it came to everything that had happened, even when Cassidy, Connor, and Murphy were gone I slept like the dead.

"Well ya need ya rest anyway" Murphy nudged me and I smiled to myself before seasoning the eggs and finishing them up. I pushed the eggs onto two plates and then grabbed the toast I had made earlier and handed Murphy a plate before heading over to the kitchen table. We sat there in silence as we stuffed our faces and drank a few cups of coffee, it was so nice for everything to be calm and normal for once, but then I was reminded that we were burying my cousin today, and I realized that there would never be a normal day ever again, this made me frown.

"What's wrong now?" Murphy asked and I hadn't realized he was watching me until I looked up and saw the worry on his face.

"Just thinking" I responded and pushed around the left over egg on my plate. Murphy's hand crossed the table and landed on my hand and I couldn't help but look up at him and sigh, "This feels so normal, but things won't ever be normal, you aren't normal, our lives, and our potential baby's life will never be normal, sometimes I miss normal" I sighed again and Murphy rubbed his thumb in a circle on my hand trying to calm me down.

"Well der's no contract dat says ya 'ave ta stay" Murphy spoke and I had to replay what he said in my head, did he honestly tell me that I didn't have to stay with him.

"Murphy, I would trade normalcy for you any day, it's just going to take some getting used to that's all" I smiled weakly and Murphy patted my hand before withdrawing it back across the table. We finished with our breakfast and I did the dishes and was still concerned that Cassidy wasn't home. It was 8:30 and the funeral started at ten, I searched my room for my cell phone and dialed her number. It rang and rang until someone answered, but it wasn't the someone I was expecting.

"'Ello?" Connor answered and it sounded like he had just woken up.

"Connor, is Cassidy there?" I asked and there was a long pause before he spoke again.

"She's still asleep, can I take a message?" He questioned and it sounded like he was walking around somewhere.

"Her brother's funeral is at ten, her dress is here, she has to be there, so I don't care what you have to do, but make sure she is ready by ten and at the cemetery" I finished and Connor laughed.

"Yes ma'am" I could tell he was smirking as he said it, "I'll come get 'er dress so she can sleep some more" He responded.

"Okay, see you in a bit" I replied and hung up the phone. I stood there in the middle of my room contemplating on what to do next, and I had decided on a shower. By the time I had showered and gotten ready it was 9:00 and I was getting worried that Connor hadn't showed up yet, but I was startled when I walked out of my room and Connor had his hand up like he was about to knock on my door.

"Murph' let me in, I need ta know what dress" He explained and I smiled at his slight emphasis on dress, typical for a guy to not understand why a dress was necessary.

"Here, follow me, I'll show ya" I stepped out of my room and made my way to Cassidy's as Connor followed behind me. I gathered everything that Cassidy would need to get ready and backed it in a convenient carry bag for Connor and handed it over.

"So I guess congratulations is in order" Connor nodded at me and I could feel my cheeks getting hot.

"Well, nothing is set in stone, but hopefully yes" I smiled up at him, but I could see just a glimmer of something in his eyes before he locked it away in a secret place.

"Well good for ya" Connor nodded again, I could tell this was all very awkward for him, so I ended the conversation and ushered him out of the room and down the stairs.

"Now get back to Cassidy before she wakes up and doesn't find you next to her" I smiled and this time it was Connor who blushed just a little bit before he walked out of the house.

Cassidy's POV

I groaned to myself before finally opening my eyes and trying to remember just where I was when nothing looked familiar to me. When the events of the night came rushing back to me I smiled and went to turn and look at Connor, but was shocked to see he wasn't laying next to me. I sat up in bed and searched the room, but he was nowhere to be seen. I had to stop myself from automatically feeling deflated at the disappointment of him not being there in the morning, but I had told myself last night that it was too good to be true. I stretched my limbs as I crawled out of bed and cracked my back trying to get rid of the kinks in my neck from sleeping on such a poor mattress. Looking around the room I saw no real source of food or water so I decided to just take a shower to get my mind off of everything, showers usually helped me relax, even if they weren't in my own luxurious tub. I slowly undressed and tried my best to find some sort of hot water before stepping into the stream of water. Once I was satisfied with the temperature I stepped in and heaved a soft sigh, it seemed like all my worries were once again washed away. I stood under the water continually pushing my hair back out of my face as the water ran down my back. Suddenly I head a clicking sound from across the room and when I turned to find the source I was shocked to see Connor walking in with a small duffel bag in his hand. Connor stopped in his tracks and looked at me with a similar shocked expression before stepping in and closing the door behind him.

"Well, I see you've been busy" Connor smirked and set the duffel bag down on his bed before making his way towards me.

"I thought you left, just needed to cool down before I left as well" I responded and turned my back to him, once again facing the stream of water pounding down on my bare skin.

"Why would I leave ya 'ere all alone" Connor was suddenly right on top of me whispering in my ear. He turned me around and wrapped his hand around the back of my neck before pulling me close for a kiss.

"Connor stop" I smirked into the kiss, trying to be serious, but failing miserably.

"Why?" Connor continued to kiss me, trailing them from my mouth down to my neck and then to my collar bone.

"Because, I've had enough for a while" I lifted my head trying so hard not to think about how good his lips felt against my cold, wet skin.

"Says you" He nibbled on my neck and was about to give into him when my phone rang and I looked at him with a sorry expression before stepping out of the water and grabbing a nearby towel.

"Hello?" I questioned after picking up the phone. After I wrapped the towel around me I sat down on Connor's bed and looked over at him as he stripped off his clothes and took over my abandoned shower.

"Cassidy, thank god you're alive now, you have a funeral to appear at in about an hour, so hop to it" Melanie's familiar voice came through the phone and I smiled at her demanding tone, it sounded so strange coming from her.

"Yes, ma'am" I saluted to thin air and then hung up my phone, "Well I need to get going, got a funeral to get ready for" I waved a hand and started for the door.

"Check da bag" Connor called as he finished rinsing his body. I did as he said and tried to hide the smile that crept over my face, "Mel called dis mornin' 'nd I went over der 'nd got ya stuff, now get ready" He demanded and the tone sounded so much better coming from him than it did from Melanie. I was touched that Connor had gone all the way over to my house and brought back everything I would need to get ready, it seemed out of character for him, but I was glad he did it anyway.

"Thanks" I smiled at him as he turned off the water and grabbed a towel for himself. Connor nodded at me as a response and then looked at the bag in my hand, "I'm going, I'm going, don't get your panties in a twist" I smirked at Connor's odd expression and then made my way over to the small mirror so I could start getting ready. After I had put on my dress and shoes and make-up I turned to look at Connor who was sitting on his bed in just sweatpants.

"What do ya think?" I asked turning around in a circle and striking a slight pose. Connor just nodded his head and continued to admire me from his bed. I looked at the time on my phone and I panicked, I needed to be at the cemetery in 15 minutes, I rushed over towards the bed and grabbed my purse and was about to leave when Connor grabbed my hand.

"Connor, I'm going to be late" I grumbled as he brought me back to him.

"Ya look great" Connor stood up and kissed me before walking me to the door. I could tell I had a stupid smirk on my face as Connor shut the door behind me, but I ignored it and made my way down all of the stairs and out to the bus stop.

"You rode the bus?" Melanie questioned me as soon as I was within earshot.

"How else do you think I was going to get here from the apartment?" I glared at her and she shrugged her shoulders, "Is everyone here?" I asked looking around and not seeing Murphy. I was glad that Melanie was smart enough to know that too many people here would recognize both Murphy and Connor, and that explained their absence.

"As far as I know everyone associated with Joe is here and accounted for" Melanie laced her arm with mine and we started walking towards the funeral. It was a long ceremony, full of police officers and close friends telling stories about my brother and a few of them even spilled a few tears. Finally at the end, it was my turn to say a few words about my brother and I was suddenly terrified, I was going to stand up there in front of all these people and not weep a tear while talking about him. While I was still heartbroken by the death of my brother, I still didn't feel all that bad about it, not after Connor had made me look at it in a whole different light.

"My brother was a good man, he was an officer of the law and he put his life in danger everyday just so he could help those in need. He was my best friend growing up and when our mother died he was all I had until Melanie came to live with us, but we all three were so close that his passing has hit us both very hard. All in attendance today know just how loyal Joe was and that his family and friend were his life, he would have taken a bullet for anyone here, that's just what kind of person he was. As the last of the Morelli's I am proud to say that I am Joe's sister, and he will be missed, but never forgotten. I love you Joe" I looked at the casket and picked up my flowers and placed them on top. Everyone had their eyes on me as I made my way to the car Melanie drove to the cemetery and as soon as I was inside I heaved a sigh of relief.

"You could have cried or something, everyone thinks there is something wrong with you" Melanie said when she got in the car, we were the last ones to leave.

"I'm sorry, but last time I checked my brother had pointed a gun at me and Connor, not sure he deserved too many tears, plus, I'm past crying over spilt blood" I laughed, "I don't know who would be more proud of that statement, my father or Connor. Melanie drove the rest of the way in silence and I welcomed the quietness and the hum of the car on the road. We arrived home and I went upstairs to get into some comfortable clothes and when I made it back downstairs Murphy and Melanie were laughing their asses off in the living room.

"What are you two watching?" I asked plopping down in the couch next to them.

"America's Funniest Home Videos" Melanie replied in between deep breaths. I shook my head in disbelief at the odd and seemingly mundane thing we were doing, all sitting on the couch and watching TV, though not all of us were there. I sighed to myself and Melanie looked at me worried.

"What are you sighing about?" She asked and suddenly it was like a light bulb went off in her head, "Did something happen, you said you weren't leaving him until you heard what you wanted to hear, did he say it, oh my god he did, tell me everything!" Melanie was speaking a mile a minute and I just shook my head at her and smiled.

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait for this, and I'm sorry to announce that next week I am going to be in Boston for ten days, so updates will not exist. Thanks **_Sissymac _**and **_Alexm127_** for the reviews. I'm gonna try and write some more tonight. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please.**


	56. Chapter 56

Connor's POV

After Cassidy had left I relaxed on my bed and sighed to myself, it had been a very odd couple of days and now I was alone again. I didn't mind being alone, but I didn't mind being in the company of Cassidy, but she was at her brother's funeral, the brother that tried to kill me. I still couldn't believe that she chose me over her brother, that she had killed her brother because he had pointed a gun at me. I was slightly worried about her after that, especially after she killed the three men that were in my apartment, she was a killing machine, but in an odd way, it turned me on. She was a strong woman to begin with, but she was becoming stronger and stronger with every passing day. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, the sun was down and the apartment was cooler than during the day. I sat up in bed and rubbed my face trying to wake myself up, I made my way over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of dark wash jeans. After I found a shirt and put on my shoes I headed out of the apartment and made my way to McGinty's. When I made it to the bar I walked up to the counter and ordered a beer. Doc came over with my drink and stopped to talk to me.

"So everyting done 'nd over wit, wit dat girl?" He asked and I laughed to myself before taking a swig out of my beer bottle.

"It's never over wit dat girl" I smirked.

"She 'asn't been in 'ere lately, not after ya held 'er 'ere, fuck, ass!" He shouted at the end and I smirked when he recomposed himself.

"She's fine if dat's what yar tryin' ta figure out, should be 'ome by now actually" I checked the time and nodded to myself.

"Mmhmm" Doc nodded at me with scrutiny in his eyes, why did no one trust me. I finished my beer and decided to head out, but as soon as I got out on the street my phone rang and I dug in my pocket to find it.

Cassidy's POV

"Melanie calm the fuck down, I'm not telling you anything, it's between Connor and I" I groaned as Melanie tried to get more information out of me.

"Cassidy please tell me" Melanie leaned closer to me and I just continued to shake my head at her, "Here, Murphy won't even listen" Melanie covered Murphy's ears so he couldn't 'hear' what she thought I was about to say.

"Melanie you can keep trying, but I'm not going to tell you anything" I started to get up off the couch and suddenly her hand was around my wrist. I turned and glared at her, but it was a different glare than when I glared at Connor. She immediately released my arm when she saw my expression and she leaned back into the couch a little more.

"Did he at least say it?" Melanie spoke in almost a whisper, I could tell I had frightened her and I was immediately deflated. I got down on my knees and I grabbed onto her hand to try and reassure her that I was the same person she always trusted.

"Yes" I smiled and she lit up with excitement and all her frightened emotions melted away. I stood up as Melanie continued to smile at me and then made my way to the stairs.

"Took you guys long enough" Melanie laughed from the living room and I rolled my eyes at her before heading up the stairs and into my room. I walked in and flopped down on my bed with a sigh, I couldn't really understand what had just happened downstairs with Melanie, why she was suddenly afraid of me, I was the same, nothing had changed. Yea, I had killed my brother and three of my brother's men at the apartment, but I was the same ol' Cassidy. I looked up at the ceiling and then took out my cell phone and scrolled through my contacts, I clicked on Connor's number and just stared at it for a few seconds. I pressed the call button and raised the phone up to my ear and listened to the ringing of his phone.

"'Ello?" Connor's familiar voice floated through the phone and into my head.

"Hey" I said softly, I don't know why I was speaking so quietly, but I felt like it was the right thing to do at the moment.

"Sadie, is-" Connor cut himself off, he still remembered that I didn't like everyone asking me if everything was ok.

"Ask" I spoke softly again, pleading with Connor to ask me the question just so I could answer it honestly for once.

"Is everyting ok?" He asked like I wanted him to.

"No" I whispered and it felt like I was sinking into my bed, finally I was able to say just how I was feeling, I wasn't ok, so many things were going through my head, I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders.

"Where 're ya?" Connor asked, his voice strained and demanding.

"My room" I responded and then I head the click of the phone being hung up. I relaxed my arms and let my phone fall onto my bed as I continued to lay there just staring up at the ceiling, trying to clear my mind of all thoughts. I stayed like that for a few more minutes and then I got up and tried to busy myself, I went over to my vanity and started to put away the things in the duffel bag from earlier that day. All my things were put away and I looked up at myself in the mirror and sighed when I saw Connor standing silently in the doorway behind me. I turned in my chair and I looked at him and I couldn't get out of my chair fast enough, but I finally made it to Connor and he immediately wrapped his arms around me as I snuggled into his chest. I hadn't realized how taxing the day had been until I was standing there in his arms. We didn't speak for around five minutes, we stood there just holding each other, finally Connor released me and held me at arms length so he could get a better look at my face.

"Talk" This time it was Connor's turn to speak softly. I looked down and away, but he immediately reached up and lifted my chin so I had to look at him. I sighed before grabbing onto his hand and leading him over to the bed where I sat down and he followed right after.

"It's just been a long day" I sighed and balled up my fists in my lap.

"It sounded worse than a long day on da phone" Connor looked at me and I sighed, defeated.

"Everyone was shocked that I wasn't emotional at the funeral, but I couldn't help it, I thought about what you said and it was the right thing to do, I feel no regrets about it, so I can't shed a tear over it anymore" I explained and Connor nodded.

"Ta 'ell what udder people tink, it's none of der fuckin' business why ya dint cry" Connor was getting frustrated.

"Hey, calm down" I shoved him in the shoulder and he looked at me with confused eyes, "I'm supposed to be the one with the problems, we can work on yours some other day" I tried a small smile and Connor loosened up and smirked back at me.

"Is dat everyting?" Connor asked me and I sighed, deciding whether or not to tell him about what happened with Melanie.

"Well, there was an incident with Melanie earlier, you know how you will grab my wrist when I'm about to leave or something and I glare at you, she grabbed my wrist, but when I glared at her she was afraid of me" I looked away from Connor and tried to keep my emotions under check, "She's never been afraid of me, she is my cousin, my best friend, we trust each other with everything, but the look in her eyes, it hurt me" One tear slid down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away before Connor could see it.

"Don' worry 'bout it, it'll take some getting used to, being a badass killer" Connor tried a small laugh to lighten the mood, but it wasn't working, "Listen, Sadie, it's ok this is all new to ya 'nd frankly your glare at me is a little frightening as well, but I'm a big boy I can handle it" Connor shoved me playfully like I did him earlier. I finally looked at him and I couldn't help but smile, we both laughed a little before I turned to face him fully.

"Thanks" I said softly, "Didn't mean to be the typical girl in trouble, but sometimes you make everything better" I smirked and Connor cocked an eyebrow.

Melanie's POV

Murphy and I were still sitting on the couch when we hear a knock at the door, I looked at Murphy worried, because who the hell wouldn't use the doorbell. I stood up and made my way to the door with Murphy watching me, just in case something happened. When I opened the door Connor was standing there and he looked like he was in a hurry, without a word or even a glance Connor pushed past me and headed up the stairs. I looked back at Murphy and he shrugged his shoulders before turning his attention back to the TV. I closed the door and went back to the couch, it would be nice to relax the rest of the night, because tomorrow I needed to make an appointment to see the doctor.

The Next Morning

Murphy and I had fallen asleep on the couch and I groaned when I moved and my neck was stiff, sleeping there probably wasn't a good idea. I nudged Murphy so he would wake up and he grumbled a few things under his breath and drifted back to sleep. I got up anyway and made my way upstairs so I could take a shower, but as I was walking to my room Cassidy came out of her room fully dressed and ready for the day.

"Where you going, got a hot date?" I asked putting my hand on my hip and pointing to her outfit.

"Nope, just business as usual, I figured it wouldn't be very safe to have meetings here anymore, especially since Murphy seems to live here now, so I reserved a room at the Marriot in town, gotta go get everything set up before everyone arrives" She explained and I nodded my head, for a while there I had almost forgotten that Cassidy was the head of the Italian mob.

"Ok, well be careful, I'm gonna shower and hopefully get an appointment with the doctor today to see just what's going on" I explained and she smiled.

"I hope it's true, I'm really happy for you Mel" She closed the gap between us and hugged me. I sighed and hugged her back, finally my cousin was back to being her normal self, I was a little weary when I first saw her, because I remembered the look in her eyes last night when I grabbed her wrist, "Well I should get going, let me know how it goes" She said smiled before she turned to walk down the stairs.

"What about Connor, why is he here?" I asked and Cassidy stopped and smirked at me.

"Needed someone to talk to" She winked before bouncing down the stairs. I shook my head in disbelief before going into my room to shower. I took my time in the shower, and about an hour and a half later I was done and ready for the day. I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen to get the main phone and search for the number for my doctor. When I turned to go sit at the table I was shocked to see Connor sitting there silently enjoying a cup of coffee.

"Geez, you scared the shit out of me" I clutched my chest with my hand and tried to catch my breath.

"Sorry" I smirked to himself as he took a sip out of his coffee mug.

"You seem to have settled in just fine around here" I sat down across from him at the table.

"It's a little to expensive for my tastes, I prefer a one room dingy apartment" He laughed and I couldn't help but laugh with him, I was warming up to Connor, the more he was around, but he was one of the people that I couldn't really fully forgive for everything yet, it would take some time. Murphy suddenly broke my concentration on Connor when he walked in and asked what was going on.

"Oh nothing, just a morning chat" I smiled and then grabbed the phone before walking out of the kitchen and into the living room. I dialed the number I had written down on a notecard and waited for the receptionist to answer.

"Dr. Reed's office, how can I help you?" Her almost sing songy voice came through the phone.

"Hi I'd like to make an appointment, Name's Melanie O'Donnell" I paused and waited for the receptionist to see when the next available opening was.

"We have a cancelation today at 3 is that ok with you?" She came back on the line and informed me.

"3 would be great" I wrote down the time on my notecard and finished up talking with the receptionist before hanging up the phone. I smiled to myself glad that I was able to get an appointment that day, so I would know for sure if things were going to change for the rest of my life, even more than it had already.

**A/N: So here is an update, didn't think I would get one out, I leave on Friday morning for Boston, I might get one more update up before I head out to the land of the Saints. Thanks **_Sissymac_**, **_Flufferz_**, and **_McBrideReedusLover_** for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	57. Chapter 57

Cassidy's POV

I made it into the conference room at the Marriot hotel and started setting things up.

"I'm sorry to hear about your loss" I heard a very thick Russian accented voice call from behind me and I froze. When I turned around I saw a thin dark haired man standing in the doorway of the conference room.

"Thank you, were you at the funeral, I don't think I recall your name" I try playing it as if I don't know just who he is, but I suspect he is the replacement for Blake.

"Name's Chester" He holds out his hand and I meet his with my own. In one swift movement, Chester pulled me close to him and breathed into my ear before speaking.

"We know just what you and your friends have done Miss Morelli, we don't know who you are working with or why they are so skilled, but we will find them and we will kill them, and then we will be coming for you, just because you were daddy's little girl doesn't mean you can play with the big dogs" He paused and the whole time he was speaking I was trying to wiggle my way out of his grasp. Finally he stepped back and released me and I glared at him.

"There be monsters out there Miss Morelli, do be careful" He smiled wickedly and walked out of the room, leaving me standing there dumbfounded. It never ended the constant string of problems and threats, my father had to of hidden all of this from me because I never would have thought being the boss would be this stressful. As I stand there still bewildered one of my men walked in and asked me if I'm alright.

"Just peachy" I laughed going back to organizing the room. After everyone finally arrived and made themselves comfortable I cleared my throat to get everyone's attention.

"Well it has been a long time gentleman, since we last met, and seeing as there has been a death recently I thought it would be safer to have our meeting here, everything is confidential I made sure there were no recording devices, so business can proceed as usual" I finished my little introduction speech and sat down in my chair waiting for the next person to speak.

"Miss Morelli, the Russians are still causing problems, they refuse to move the product" One man stood up and announced. I groaned to myself and mentally kicked myself before speaking.

"Well push harder, I am not going to let them walk all over us, use guns if need me, kill people if need be, they need to know we are not going to back down" I spoke aloud, but I was almost simultaneously speaking to myself, I wasn't going to back down from the threat Chester made today. As the proceedings continued I lost myself in my thoughts, only nodding when needed. My mind continued to drift back to Chester's threat and then I thought of Connor and Murphy, I wasn't about to worry about them, they were killers, skilled killers, and had survived this long without suffering too much harm. My heart dropped out of my chest as I thought about the next thing, what if the Russians did get a hold of Connor and Murphy, they would kill them without a second thought, then me, Melanie would be all alone, unless they killed her too, I shook my head and brought myself back to reality.

"The business is done for the day Miss" One of my men announced and I nodded and dismissed everyone. I stayed back for a few more minutes trying to mentally battle my worries away.

Melanie's POV

After I had made my appointment I busied myself with simple things around the house, cleaning and rearranging things to my liking. I was deeply concentrating on trying to get the dinning room table shiny when two arms snaked around my waist.

"Murph' I'm trying to clean" I whined and he just leaned in closer and planted a few soft kisses on my neck.

"Ya look cute when ya clean" He whispered in my ear and I groaned trying to stand my ground and not give into him.

"Listen, I have an appointment at three today with the doctor, do you want to come with me?" I asked and I could feel Murphy's arms tense around me at the mention of the appointment.

"Um, I don' know, sure I guess so, do ya want me ta go?" He turned the question around on me and I placed my cleaning supplies back on the table and turned to face him.

"Of course I do" I smiled at him and bobbed up to plant a very quick yet sweet kiss on his lips. I could feel the tension ease away as he looked down at me with admiration.

Murphy and I made our way into the doctor's office and I walked over to the receptionist to let her know I was here. I sat down next to Murphy in the waiting room and started to get very anxious.

"Mel" Murphy broke my concentration and I turned and looked at him questioningly, "Ya wanna loosen up?" He questioned and I looked down at my hand grasping his and saw that the tips of his fingers were turning red and then purple.

"Sorry" I released him and rubbed my hands on my legs nervously, "I guess I'm a little nervous" I confessed.

"Yea, you 'nd me both" He smiled at me and a little bit of my anxiety vanished, but it returned when the nurse called my name and we were ushered back to a room to wait for the doctor.

It seemed like decades before the wooden door to the small examination room opened again and Dr. Reed walked in.

"Good afternoon Miss O'Donnell" She walked in and shook my hand before turning to greet Murphy.

"This is my boyfriend Murphy" I explained and Dr. Reed shook hands with him before wheeling her chair to sit in front of me. She took a seat and opened my file and proceeded to tell us what all the preliminary readings said.

"Blood pressure and heart rate is doing good" She started as she flipped through the pages finally she stopped on a page and read through the words before looking up at me with a smile. I could feel all of the blood rush out of my face as she smiled at me, I was terrified and she was taking her sweet ass time.

"Well looks like congratulations is in order, Miss O'Donnell you are five weeks pregnant" The words came out of her mouth and suddenly I was lost in a sea of blackness and I couldn't hear or see.

"Melanie, wake up, Melanie" I heard a faint voice in the distance and suddenly my eyes flitted open and I saw Murphy hovering over me.

"What happened?" I questioned looking around the room, but then everything came rushing back to me, I was pregnant and I must have fainted after the news was told.

"Ya fainted, 're ya alright?" Murphy explained and proceeded to ask me.

"Yea, I think so" I sat up and rubbed my forehead before letting the news sink in. Five weeks, already one month in, I'm pregnant with Murphy's child, I took a deep breath and then looked at Murphy with a small smile.

"Good, ya ready ta go 'ome?" Murphy asked as he helped me stand up and I nodded before he grabbed our things and led us out of the doctor's office.

We made it home after stopping at the pharmacy for prenatal vitamins and all the other things the doctor recommended. I walked in and Cassidy was just walking out of the kitchen with a drink in her hand, I ran to her and hugged her so hard I thought I would break her.

"Hello to you too" She let out a strangled laugh as I continued to hug her.

"Five weeks" I squeaked out as my tears started to fall.

"So you are" Cassidy stated rather than asked and she rubbed her hand on my back to try and calm me down, "It's going to be ok" She repeated over and over trying to calm me down. When the tears finally stopped I took a few steps away from her and wiped my face.

"Cass, I'm scared" I confessed and she grabbed onto my shoulder and looked me dead in the eyes.

"Melanie O'Donnell, you are going to get through this, you are strong and tough, and you have Murphy, Me, and even Connor to help you through all of this" She paused and I nodded at her, "Murphy loves you so much, and this will only bring you two closer together, it's destiny Mel" She smiled and I couldn't help but smile back, she was right, I have so many people to help me and I have the unconditional love of Murphy.

"Thanks Cass" I smiled and gave her one last hug before leaving her side and walking into the kitchen.

Cassidy's POV

Melanie left my side and I continued into the living room with my drink and sat down on the couch next to Connor.

"What was dat all 'bout?" Connor asked grabbing my drink out of my hands and taking a drink. I looked at him in shocked disbelief before I responded.

"First of all, I can't believe you just did that, and second of all, Melanie found out that she is five weeks pregnant" I explained and Connor handed me back my drink and I glared at him.

"Well good for 'er" Connor stated and I could hear a little bit of contempt in his voice,

"Are you mad?" I asked and I could see Connor's shoulders tense a little, "You are, why the fuck are you mad, you should be happy for her and your brother" I continued to speak and looked at Connor appalled.

"I'm not mad" Connor grumbled.

"Then why are you acting like this?" I questioned turning so I was facing him completely. For the longest time Connor didn't speak, he didn't even look at me he looked straight ahead at the TV and acted like I wasn't in the room, "You're jealous" I finally figured it out, I had thought he was earlier, but I never thought he actually would be, but the tightness in his jaw when I called him out answered my question.

"Connor, he is your brother, it will be your niece or nephew, just be happy for them" I tried to hide the hurt and guilt I felt inside as I tried to convince him to open his eyes and see that it will still be his family. Connor continued to not say anything as he stared at the TV and it was really starting to piss me off, Connor was always shutting me out when it came to his emotions, I just wished one day he would let me in more easily.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry it's not me, I'm sorry I got shot and lost ours, I'm so sorry" I stood up and looked at him as I spoke. After I finished I placed my glass on the coffee table and started to walk away, but Connor reached up and grabbed my hand. When I turned around Connor stood up and approached me and kissed me before embracing me in a tight hug.

"Don' ever blame yaself, ya 'ear me, don' blame yaself" Connor whispered in my ear before planting a soft kiss just under my ear and then rested his head in the crook of my neck.

"I'm sorry I don't want a family" I whispered and a dry sob escaped my lips. Connor immediately stepped back from me and looked at me shocked, I held my breath as he stood there and continued to look at me, "I'm sorry about everything" I spoke again and Connor started shaking his head.

"No, no, no, no, no" Connor whispered over and over. I finally took a breath and watched Connor with a heavy heart, I was so afraid of what he was going to say or do. Without another word Connor took a step back and looked around the room before closing the gap between us and staring me square in the eyes.

"I don' care, you 're enough" Connor breathed the second part and I looked away at his confession and looked back at him when he put his hand under my chin and made me look at him.

"But am I?" I whispered and he closed his eyes and sighed heavily before he opened them again.

"I love ya, you 're enough" Connor never took his eyes off of me as he spoke and I was overcome with emotions after he finished. Connor was willing to put away his hopes and dreams of having a family to be with me, I felt so selfish.

"I love you too" I spoke aloud, "But I'm still sorry" I mumbled under my breath so Connor couldn't hear.

**A/N: So I am finally back from the land of the Saints and I had so much fun! I am so psyched to get back to this story thought, so enjoy the update. Thanks **_Sissymac_** and **_Flufferz_** for the reviews. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	58. Chapter 58

Cassidy's POV

"I'm gonna go get some more to drink" I decided I needed to put some distance between Connor and I. We went from hating each other and now being in love and talking about the future, and it was all just too much for me. I grabbed the glass off the table and walked past Connor with a weak smile plastered on my face, I didn't want him to see just how badly our conversation had rattled me.

"'Ey Cass" Murphy smiled when I walked in and I tried my best to keep my emotions under check.

"Hey Murph', so are you excited about the news today?" I asked keeping my back to him as I stuck my head in the fridge to get another can of Pepsi.

"Yea" Murphy sounded confused by his response, "I mean I love Melanie, 'nd I've always dreamed of havin' a family, but with my lifestyle I didn't think it would ever be possible, but she is makin' dat 'appen for me" I finally turned to face him and he was smiling from ear to ear and his smile was very contagious.

"Well I am so happy for you guys" I joined him at the table and heaved a sigh after taking a drink of my cold soda.

"Thanks Cass, I know Mel is a little weary, but havin' ya 'ere it 'elps" Murphy confessed.

"I do my best" I smirked and leaned back in my chair.

"So is everting ok wit my brudder 'nd ya?" Murphy asked and I was actually shocked that he would ask, I could tell he knew I was shocked because he explained just why he was asking, "Connor don't talk to me, gotta find out somehow" He smiled.

"We're civil" I laughed when I thought about it. Connor and I had ups and downs every two minutes it seemed, we were either yelling at each other or talking about something that was too deep, or having sex, we never just spent time together and relaxed like Melanie and Murphy. I had to admit I was jealous of their relationship, after all my previous relationships I would kill for something normal and happy, but I also had to admit that I would trade the times I had with Connor for anything in the world.

"Civil, dat don't sound good" Murphy leaned forward in his chair and rested his arms on the table, "I know Connor can be difficult, but beneath 'is 'ard exterior 'e can be a good guy" Murphy looked up at me and I smiled.

"I've met the good guy, the bad guy, the animal, and the Saint, sometimes all in one day, but it's getting hard to keep up with, I've got so much on my plate, a relationship that requires so much energy was not on my to do list" I confessed and I regretted it as soon as I said it because I saw Murphy looking behind me with hurt eyes and when I turned around Connor was standing there looking at me with a mask of pain and rage on his face.

"Connor" I whispered. Connor walked in as if he didn't here me and rummaged in the fridge for a beer before sitting down at the table with us. I looked at Murphy and I could tell he was confused by his brother's actions, but I was terrified, Connor was someone you didn't want to hurt or piss off, the last time I had done that he had wanted to kill me the next day.

"Please do continue ya conversation" Connor sat back in his chair and glared at me, and it was not a follow me to bed kind of glare.

"Connor" I spoke up this time and looked to Murphy for some kind of help but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Continue" Connor never took his eyes off of me as he spoke through clenched teeth. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to look at him anymore and continued what I was saying.

"It may not have been on my to do list from the start, but no matter what happens in all the others things I have piled on top of me, I will always devote time to him and fight for what we have made. I know I can't give him everything he wants, but I damn sure will try to give him what I can" When I opened my eyes I was looking at Murphy who was staring at his brother as Connor continued to stare at me. I never looked at Connor, I stood up and left the room and walked out to the back patio and straight to the guesthouse without saying a word to anyone.

Connor's POV

"What da 'ell 'ave ya done now Conn?" Murphy questioned me after Cassidy had left the room. Although she had said I wasn't part of her plan and that she would try her hardest to stay and give me what I wanted, I was still mad, partly at her, but partly at myself for letting my emotions get to myself and for inflicting them on her.

"I 'aven't done shit, she's da one dat can't 'andle all this" I groaned and glared at Murphy, how dare he turn all of this onto me, she's the one that has to bring up all the shit that I'm insecure and worried about.

"Connor, she cares for ya a lot, figure it out, before she wises up 'nd decides dat she don' want ya" Murphy warned before he stood up and walked out of the kitchen. I was left there sitting by myself with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company and it was driving me crazy. All of this was driving me crazy, Cassidy was driving me crazy, this house was driving me crazy, my emotions were driving me crazy, that damn unborn child was driving me crazy, everything irritated me and I had, had enough. I got up out of my chair and made my way to the front door, I needed some air to help me clear my head. I sat down on the curb and looked around the neighborhood, the only time I had ever been in a nice neighborhood like this before I met Cassidy was to kill mobsters, that's who I was a killer of bad people, not someone who did domestics, I had a higher calling than this. While things had been fun at first, the heat and the passion and the hatred that fueled the sex between us, but something was off now, everything was softer and she was different, hell I was different, I had fuckin' told her I loved her. I sighed heavily to myself because that was something I could never take back, it was something I would never wish to take back because I did love her and that's what scared me to the point of running. She was a rich princess while I was a broke Irishman, our two worlds were wrong for each other, yet at time they were oh so right. I would need more time to really think about all of this and take things slow when it came to being in a relationship. I shuttered at the thought me, in a relationship, never in my life did I think that was ever going to be possible, don't get me wrong I had flings and one night stands, but never anything serious like this and it was all new territory.

Melanie's POV

I was laying on my bed when I heard my door open and Murphy walked in.

"What's up babe?" I asked as he walked over and joined me in bed.

"Cass and Connor are fighting or something, I never really know with them two, but they are not in a good place" Murphy explained and I sat up in bed.

"Well maybe I need to go talk to her" I started to get out of bed but Murphy grabbed onto my hand and pulled me back towards him.

"Let them figure it out for once, they're jus' jealous they don't 'ave what we 'ave" Murphy smirked before kissing me so I couldn't argue about going to see Cassidy.

"Stop distracting me" I grumbled on his lips as he continued to kiss me.

"Oh, but I'm such a good distraction" Murphy smirked into the kiss and I was past the point of no return, I reached my hands up and laced my fingers in his hair as I deepened the kiss and moved my body closer to his. Murphy let a moan slip as I continued to kiss him and dropped my hands to his pants and started to undo his belt. I teased him by rubbing my hands lightly against his skin just above his boxers before bringing my hands up to his face so I could hold him in place. Murphy had finally had enough of the teasing and kissing and he gently ran his hands along my sides as he pulled my shirt up and then over my arms. Murphy looked down at me in just my bra and pants with a small smirk playing on his lips before he attacked my lips and started working on my jeans. Finally he got them off and it was my turn to work on his clothing, I turned us to where he was on his back and I straddled his hips before tugging his shirt up and finally over his head and arms. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion as we stared into each other's eyes and made sweet love to each other. After we were finished we both laid on the bed panting and trying to catch our breath. I turned to Murphy with a smile on my lips and kissed his cheek before resting my head on his chest and tracing circles on his rib cage with my finger.

Cassidy's POV

When I walked into the guesthouse I went straight up the stairs all the way to the small attic bedroom where we kept all of our photo albums and holiday decorations. I ran my hand over the Christmas tree that was still put together and decorated, remembering the last time it was actually displayed in the house, it had been the year before my mom died, ever since then dad never decorated the house for any holiday. Dad had turned cold and hard after mom died, but I couldn't blame him, the love of his life died and he was left with two reminders of her everyday, my brother and I. I looked at all the boxes that were scattered around the room and I gravitated to the one marked Cassidy and Joseph. I sat down and opened the box and grabbed the first photo album I could find. Opening it up I read the small inscription my mother had written when I was born, "My Dearest Cassidy, may you fill this album with your memories of us and all the time you spend with others, always remember that when we are all gone, you can visit us in the pages of this book" A tear rolled down my cheek as I read it and then turned to the next page. The first picture I looked at was a picture of all of us at my first Christmas, dad had his arm lovingly around my mom as she held me and Joe sat on dad's lap as he looked at me with disgust blanketing his face, I couldn't help but laugh. Mom had always told me stories of how it took Joe a long time to get used to me being around, before me he loved being the only child, and after me he had to share everything and he didn't like it. Funny how we started off hating each other and then became good friends later on in life, and then in the end we were at odds again. I flipped to the next page and looked at on of our family reunion pictures, all my uncles were pictured, all with the same smile my dad was famous for, the smile we never saw after mom died, another tear slid down my face as I remembered that smile. I continued to flip through the pages and more tears fell as I remembered all the people that I had lost in the recent months, it made me think that I needed to hold onto the few people that I had left, and that included Connor, he may be difficult and so frustrating at times, but I love him and I don't want to lose him. I sat there for a few more minutes and decided that Melanie and Murphy were just as important to me as Connor, they were my family now and I needed them more than ever. My thoughts were soon halted by my cell phone ringing, I reached in my pocked at looked at the caller ID, it read Connor.

"Hello" I answered sniffing all my tears away, but failing.

"Sadie, what's wrong?" Connor sounded worried and it only made the tears come down heavier.

"Nothing" I lied and sniffled again. I used the back of my hand to wipe away the tears that were rolling down my cheeks.

"Sadie" Connor spoke sternly and calmly, I could just see his face all hard lines and judgy. I didn't say anything more, I continued to listen to Connor breath on the other line, "Where are you?" Connor asked sternly.

"Guesthouse" I breathed and then dropped my phone as more tears fell from my eyes, Connor would be there soon to wipe away all the tears.

**A/N: So here is the next chapter of the never ending story of these four characters. Hope everyone enjoys! Thanks **_Sissymac_** and **_Flufferz_** for the reviews. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	59. Chapter 59

Melanie's POV

Murphy and I continued to lay there in bed and rest after our lovemaking, I couldn't help but smile at how far we had come and how far we had left to go. I had to admit I was scared that I was pregnant, but Murphy was a good reminder that I was not alone and that someone loved me. I planted a soft kiss on Murphy's chest before I sat up in bed and spoke.

"I love you" I smiled.

"I love ya too" Murphy said and his accent just made it sound so much better, I thought back to the first time I heard him speak and how much his accent had intrigued me. I would be lying if I said it wasn't one of the reasons I fell in love with him.

"I love your accent" I smirked and was about to get out of bed when he wrapped an arm around my waist and brought me back to him. He laced his hand in my hair and brought my head down to his so he could kiss me once more, but a very loud explosion that shook the entire house suddenly interrupted our kiss.

Connor's POV

After Cassidy had told me just where she was I hung up the phone and placed it back in my pocket before I made my way around the main house to the guesthouse out back. I walked with hurried steps, wondering what was wrong with Cassidy and why she was in the guesthouse. I was about ten feet away from the front door when everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as the scene unfolded in front of me.

"Cassidy!" I shouted and ran for the guesthouse. I was appalled at what had just happened. The entire house expanded with a red fire burning inside of it and then crumpled to the ground, crumpled to the ground with Cassidy inside. I ran as fast as I could to reach the house I didn't care about the wood and fire that would surely injure me I needed to find Cassidy and make sure she was ok. She needed to be alive, she needed to be ok. I started throwing things around digging through the rubble, I needed to find her, I needed to keep her safe. I dug and dug and moved around through the wreckage trying to search in different places when suddenly I heard coughing. I looked in the direction of the sound and saw slight movement, I ran as best as I could toward it and almost broke down when I saw that it was Cassidy. She was filthy, covered in black ash and she had a few cuts and bruises already, but she was alive.

"Sadie, I'm 'ere, can ya 'ear me?" I questioned and reached out for her, but my hand was halted by a gun shot being fired in my direction. I froze and turned towards the shooter, who stood there with a smug look on his face, I automatically glared at him and went to take a step towards him, but he fired his gun again.

"Stay still, and no one gets hurt" He called out and I tilted my head to the side confused.

"Well it's fuckin' too late for dat" I growled and ignored his protests as I stalked towards him. I was furious that this had happened to Cassidy and I was ready to kill the man that was standing in front of me.

"Stop or I'll shoot her" I heard someone behind me call and I whipped around to see another man standing over Cassidy as she struggled to get up, he had a gun pointed at her and the sight just made my anger flare even more.

"Get the fuck away from 'er" I demanded as I took a step towards him. Suddenly someone was grabbing onto my arms and trying to bind them behind me, I struggled and pushed the man away. I tried to get to Cassidy, but I was tackled by three guys who handcuffed my hands behind my back and all I could do was look to Cassidy as she tried to stand up and protest. The last thing I saw was the man who had previously had a gun pointed at Cassidy hauling her up and carrying her past me. I couldn't stop the stab of jealousy that coursed through me when she crumpled in his arms and rested her head on his chest. Then a bag was draped over my head so I could no longer see her.

Murphy's POV

Instinctively when I heard the explosion I pushed Melanie away and went into defensive mode, when I heard the gun shots I jumped out of bed and told Melanie to stay where she was.

"No, Cassidy could be in danger" Melanie defied me and stood up getting dressed as she headed for the door. I followed suit and got dressed and we both made our way down the stairs carefully.

"Will you please wait 'ere for one second" I turned and looked at Melanie and she nodded without a word. I made my way down the last few stairs and looked both directions before I saw the smoke coming from the pile of rubble that used to be the guesthouse. I made my way back up to Melanie and I motioned for her to stay calm as I spoke.

"The guesthouse was da source of da explosion, it's nothin' but a pile of rubble" I explained and Melanie's eyes widened.

"Did you see Cassidy or Connor, where are they?" Melanie was speaking a mile a minute and I could see that she was genuinely concerned when her eyes became misty with tears.

"No I dint see them, but dat doesn't mean dat they aren't out der" I explained and she started shaking her head.

"We have to search for them, we need to find them, they have to be here somewhere" Melanie was still freaking out and I grabbed onto her shoulders and made her look at me in the eyes.

"Mel, you 're goin' to 'ave ta calm down, we will go out back 'nd look" I explained and Melanie sighed before grabbing my hand and following me down the stairs and to the back patio door. We made our was out the door carefully and I kept Melanie behind me as I approached the house, just in case something happened. We searched the grounds for a good twenty minutes and didn't find any sign of Cassidy or Connor, that was until I took a few steps towards where the pathway to the house was and noticed a cellphone on the ground. I picked it up and examined it, I opened it and realized it was Connor's, so why was Connor's phone here, but not Connor himself.

Cassidy's POV

After I was hauled into the arms of a man that I couldn't place I passed out, and the next thing I saw was a dark room. I was sitting on a chair with my arms tied behind my back, that much I knew, but I had no clue where I was and who was doing this, thought I had a pretty good idea just who was behind this. I tried to get my eyes to focus to the dark room, but nothing was working, I was stuck in darkness. Suddenly the door opened at the room was flooded with light and I groaned in pain as my eyes protested against the sudden change.

"Well, well, well Miss Morelli, we have you and you man now, who shall we kill first" Chester's voice drifted around the room and that made me just want to struggle more in my restraints and fight him. He flipped on the light switched and my eyes slowly adjusted to the light and I noticed that right in front of me about two feet away Connor was tied in a very similar style as me.

"Connor" I whispered. I was worried as soon as I saw him he was slumped over in his chair, his neck hanging there limply, I could tell they had beaten him already by the red marks I could see on his arms.

"Wake up sunshine" Chester smacked Connor on the back and he awoke with pain in his eyes, but when his gaze landed on me his expression softened.

"Sadie" He sighed, "Ya're ok" He breathed and I could tell that he was truly worried about me.

"I'm fine, but you don't look so good" I frowned and Connor just shook his head.

"Don' worry 'bout me" He smirked. Suddenly Chester stepped in front of Connor, blocking my view and cleared his throat.

"Enough" He demanded and I glared up at him as he continued to block my line of view to Connor, "I think we ought to start with you, it's Connor isn't it, it looks like you two really care for each other" Chester finally stepped aside and walked behind me so he was facing Connor. Chester ran his hand over the back of the chair and gently grazed my shoulder and I flinched away at the foreign touch.

"Don' ya touch 'er" Connor growled and I looked at him with worried eyes, I had a sick feeling that Connor's temper was going to get him killed a lot quicker.

"I was hoping you'd feel that way" Chester snickered and the next thing I knew my face was on fire and I was looking towards the corner of the room. It took me a while to figure out what happened, but when I looked at Connor and just how dark his eyes were, I knew Chester had smacked me across the face, "Now we'll see just how much you and your girl here can handle" Chester brought his hand back and then crashed it into my abdomen. I hollered out in pain as my previous wounds argued against the sudden force.

"You keep ya're fuckin' 'ands off of 'er!" Connor yelled trying to get out of his chair. I could see he was scooting closer and closer to me as I looked at the floor trying to concentrate on something other than the pain. Chester disappeared for a few moments, but when he returned I saw he brought a few men to hold Connor at bay. Chester approached me again and back handed the other side of my face before landing another blow in my abdomen. I tried not to groan and scream in pain because that would just make Connor's temper flare, but the right hook to my jaw made me whimper and collapse in my chair. I heard some commotion from the other side of the room before Chester lifted my head up to look at him.

"Get some rest sweetheart, we ain't done with you yet" He threw my head down and I stayed there for the longest time, everything ached. I knew if I moved it would just make things worse so I tried to stay still, still slumped in my chair.

"Sadie" Connor spoke and I could hear the strain in his voice. I forced my head up just so I could look at him and by the pain that was clearly written on his face I didn't look too good.

"Hey" I smiled weakly trying to play it off as if we just ran into each other on the street.

"'Re ya ok?" Connor asked and I shook my head, now was not the time to lie to him, now was the time to be completely honest, because if we stayed here any longer we would both be dead, "When I get a hold of dat motherfucker I'm gonna kill 'em" Connor grumbled under his breath as he shook his head.

"Connor" I spoke softly and he focused on me, "I love you and I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I just want you to know that. I don't like fighting or arguing or talking about things that upset you, I just want those three words to be the last thing you remember if something happens to me" I sighed and looked down.

"Stop" Connor's voice was soft now, not full of anger or pain, it was soft and sincere., "Don' talk like dat, we 're gonna get outta 'ere jus' fine" Connor paused, "Sadie, look at me" He stated instead of demanded and I obliged and met his gaze, "We 're gonna make it outta 'ere, I guarantee it, I won't let anyting 'appen to ya, I love you Sadie, remember dat" Connor never took his eyes off of mine and I could feel a tear roll down my cheek. I wanted to believe what Connor was saying, but Connor was the best of the best and if they could keep him tied up and inflict pain on him, we were never going to get out of here alive.

**A/N: Chapter 59, next chapter is 60! I'm so excited. I hope everyone is still enjoying the story. Thanks **_Sissymac_** and **_FLufferz_** for the reviews, I really appreciate them, thanks for 100 of them! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	60. Chapter 60

Melanie's POV

Murphy and I were in the living room trying to figure out what to do next, we couldn't necessarily call the police with Connor being one of the Saints, so we had to do this all on our own.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked stopping my pacing and turned to look at Murphy.

"We aren't doin' anyting, I'm gonna go out 'nd try ta find dem, you 're gonna stay 'ere 'nd be safe" Murphy sounded stern and I was about to argue with him until I saw the determination in his eyes.

"Murph', I want to help anyway I can, I don't want to just sit back and watch my loved ones go on an adventure" I shook my head.

"Mel, ya aren't necessarily in a position to go on an adventure" Murphy wrapped his arms around my waist and looked down at my stomach.

"Listen, I'm only five weeks along, now I'm going to help you look for them and that is the end of the discussion" I crossed my arms and frowned at Murphy when he finally looked into my eyes again.

"Well, there's no arguin' wit dat" Murphy smirked before engulfing me in a hug and kissing my neck. I smiled into his shoulder excited that I was finally going to be able to be involved in something, I was going to be a true Saint with my Murphy.

"So where do we start?" I asked and Murphy took me into the kitchen so we could eat some food and figure out what to do next.

Connor's POV

I watched Cassidy doze as she was still tied in her chair and clearly still in pain. I stayed up all night watching her, I wasn't about to take my eyes off of her when we were in a place like this. It was early in the morning when the door opened and the man that had beat Cassidy yesterday walked in.

"Good morning love birds" He yelled and Cassidy startled away and groaned at the sudden movement disrupting her sore body, "I don't think I properly introduced myself the other day, the name is Chester, Russian mob boss thanks to you killing the previous runner, Blake" Chester stuck his hand out to me and he laughed because I couldn't shake his hand with mine tied around the chair. Chester then went over and approached Cassidy and placed his hand under her chin, the rage came bubbling to the surface at the sight in front of me, the sight of another man touching my girlfriend.

"So how are we feeling today Miss Morelli, sore I hope" Chester looked over at me as his hand was still under her chin, "Looks like we've got your boy all hot and bothered" He smirked and released Cassidy's head, but she kept it up and stared at me as he approached me.

"What'll it be today, you are the girl?" Chester suddenly shifted to the side so he could look from me to Cassidy with ease.

"Me" I spoke up and Chester whipped his head towards me and smirked. Cassidy was staring at me in shock and I could see the plea in her eyes that was telling me not to do this, but I was doing it for her.

"The lady it is then" Chester shifted his weight towards Cassidy.

"No, fuckin' hit me, me just hit me!" I yelled jumping in my chair so much that it was coming off the floor an inch every so often.

"It's sickening really, how you are trying to protect her, and that only makes me want to hurt you more by hurting her" Chester smirked and walked behind Cassidy and started doing something I assumed with her hands, "Well, me and Cassidy here will be seeing you later, much later after we are done with a few things" Chester winked and then led Cassidy out of the room locking the door behind him. I screamed out in rage at the fact that he had taken Cassidy away from me to a place I couldn't watch over her and try to protect her. My mind wandered to all the things he could possibly do to her outside of this room and it just pissed me off more. I tried to pull all my rage together and when I had tipped my chair over so I could put my feet flat on the ground I knew I was getting out of here.

Cassidy's POV

After Chester untied me he took me out of the room and down the hall into another room where he threw me down on a bed. I looked around the room and it seemed to be a normal bedroom, I pieced together that they had taken us to a random house and I shook my head with a smirk playing on my lips.

"What's so funny?" Chester scowled at me and crossed his arms not impressed.

"Rookie move taking hostages to a residential area without a specific sealed off area to interrogate them in" I shook my head and stood up, for the first time feeling like I was in control. I took a few steps and noticed some pictures on the night stand, "Even worse, it's your house, Chester I thought you were better than this" I fake frowned at him, finally getting the upper hand. I felt so in my element at the moment, being tough and making this man in front of me squirm, after everything he had done to me so far I was enjoying it a little too much.

"I will not have you taking control and mocking me when you are my hostage" Chester began to get really angry and I laughed at how red his face was getting.

"Well you shouldn't have given me so much ammunition by taking me to this room" I motioned around the room and shrugged, "Now let's find the underwear drawer" I rubbed my hands together and was about to walk towards the dresser when Chester grabbed onto my arm and squeezed.

"Easy there tiger" I smirked at him.

"Stop!" He demanded, "I know a way to knock you down a few pegs" Chester growled and continued to hold onto my arm. He walked over to the door and opened it before hollering for a man named Stephan. Stephan walked in and he was a very tall skinny, yet well built and muscular man, with blonde hair and striking blue eyes, if I was in the situation I was in at the moment I would find him very attractive, but the voice in the back of my head was telling me to put all my walls up.

"Stephan, have at her" Chester walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, I heard the familiar sound of the door locking and I immediately felt insecure.

"Hi, I'm Cassidy, you are obviously Stephan, so what exactly are you supposed to do, supervise me, because I'm fully capable of supervising myself" I smiled brilliantly and Stephan just stood there his expression not changing, "Were you told not to talk to me" I crossed my arms and frowned at him, "Come on you can't just ignore me" I batted my eyelashes at him, but once again his expression didn't change. Suddenly the door opened and Chester walked in and he was very angry he stormed over to the corner of the room and stared at me.

"Undress" He demanded and I gaped at him appalled.

"No" I growled and my frown turned genuine.

"Undress now" He demanded again and I shook my head in disobedience, "Stephan show her the monitor" Stephan grabbed an iPad off the table and handed it over to me. Connor was surrounded my four men and all of them had different weapons, one had a knife, one had brass knuckles, one had a lead pipe, and the last had a gun. Chester took out a radio and turned the nob and then spoke into it, I continued to watch the monitor and the man with the brass knuckles punched Connor square in the jaw.

"If you don't comply, more serious things will happen to him, and if you don't believe me" He radioed in again and I looked from him to the monitor again. The man with the lead pipe stepped forward and swung the pipe right into Connor's kneecap. I could hear Connor yelling out in pain on the monitor and through the door and it pained me to my core.

"Fine, stop, just stop hurting him and I'll do it!" A few tears slid down my face as I looked at Chester. Chester radioed in and told them to back off and I watched in the monitor as they did what they were told.

"Well Miss Morelli, I'm waiting" Chester smirked and I kicked off my shoes and then reached down to take off my socks. I kept my eyes down as I reached up and started to undo my belt, after my belt was off and I tossed it to the ground I felt a hand wrap around my wrist and my hands were suddenly shoved away from my body. The same two hands were suddenly at the button to my pants and before I knew it my pants were down around my ankles and I was ordered to step out of them. I did as I was told, but never looked up to see who it was, in my mind I was pretending that it was Connor and that I was at home or in the apartment enjoying some intimacy with my boyfriend, but the reality was that a strangers hands were all over me and there was nothing I could do about it if I wanted Connor to live. The hands reached the bottom hem of my shirt and the gentle hands slid my shirt up as the fingers rubbed against my skin, I instinctively raised my arms and let my shirt lift over my head and fall to the ground. Finally my chin was lifted so I was looking into the eyes of my assailant, and I was slightly shocked, it was Stephan, I half expected it to me Chester, but I was a little relieved to see it was Stephan, at least he would be gentle with me, or so I hoped. I stood there in the middle of the room in nothing but my bra and underwear for the longest time, but suddenly Chester broke the silence that had fallen over the room.

"Finish her and bring her back to the interrogation room" Chester ordered and left the room, locking it behind him again. Once again I was left alone with Stephan and once again he would follow his orders to finish me, I closed my eyes and let him do what he needed to, just so I could save my Connor.

Melanie's POV

"So we have no leads, nothing to go on, we are blind on this whole thing, how on earth are we ever going to find them, they could be dead for all we know" I rubbed my forehead as I sat at the table with Murphy.

"If I know Connor, he's not dead, 'nd neither is Cassidy, dey 're both stronger dan anyone gives dem credit for" Murphy grabbed my hand and rubbed it with his trying to calm me.

"I worry about them when they are here, you can't stop me from worrying when they mysteriously disappear" I smirked and Murphy kissed my hand before placing it back on the table.

"But seriously, where do we start?" I asked and Murphy sighed before leaning back in his chair and taking some time to think.

"Look for any clues in the daylight tomorrow 'nd try and move on from there, if we find nothing then we go through a list of all the people that may want either Connor or Cassidy dead" Murphy explained.

The Next Morning

I awoke the next morning with a jolt, I was deep in a dream and when I woke up I almost forgot what had happened the previous night. I turned to see Murphy still asleep next to me and I tried to close my eyes and get some extra rest but I couldn't bare the thought of wasting anymore time on sleep when I could be searching for Cassidy. I sat on the edge of the bed before fully getting up and as I reached for the doorknob Murphy spoke up.

"And where do ya tink ya're goin'? I turned, startled, and looked at Murphy.

"Outside to investigate, you coming?" I smirked before opening the door and scurrying down the stairs. We both made our way outside in the clothes we wore yesterday and slept in, we made our way around the wreckage and came up empty handed, we still only had Connor's phone, but that meant that Cassidy had hers

"What if we call Cassidy's phone, maybe she's able to answer or something?" I questioned and Murphy shrugged and I took out my phone and dialed. The phone rang and rang on the other end, but no one picked up I sighed in defeat as I placed the phone back in my pocket, back to the drawing board.

"What do we do, Joe's dead so we don't have police connections, how are we going to go through everyone that wants then dead and find a plausible solution to this" I sat down on the grass and rested my arms on my knees.

"Maybe we don' need ta tink 'bout who wants one of then dead, but who would want both of dem dead" Murphy worked out everything aloud and it was like a light switch had been turned on in my head, I knew just who had taken my cousin and her boyfriend, and I hated them even more than I had before.

**A/N: So here is chapter 60 I can't believe this story has made it this far, it has come a long way, and I hope that it lasts for a long time to come. Hope everyone enjoys. Thanks **_Sissymac _**and **_Flufferz_** for the reviews and thanks for sticking with this story through the updates and such, means a lot. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	61. Chapter 61

Melanie's POV

"The Russians" Murphy and I said in unison and I started smirking.

"How could we be so daft as tot not think of them, they are pissed at you and Connor for killing Blake and they are pissed at Cass for all the pushing with the mob" I leaped forward and hugged Murphy, "We are going to find them" I smiled and ran back into the house and up the stairs to get properly dressed before we went out and started looking for them. As I walked out of my room I passed by Cassidy's and walked in just to see if it made me feel any better. Everything was strewn across the room, her bed was all a mess from her and Connor doing the usual, or maybe they were just sleeping, Cassidy may not want to admit it, but Connor makes her a better and happier person. I leaned against the door frame and smiled at the memories that were surfacing of me and Cassidy in her room doing makeovers and just talking for hours. I missed her, she was my best friend and she was my only family left, I was on a mission to find her and bring her back home safely no matter what anyone said, and I suppose I'd help Connor too. I laughed out loud at my comment in my head and thought of how it sounded like something Cassidy would say. I was about to leave her room when I suddenly remembered that we had a secret mob room that probably had all the Russian records and places of operation, maybe I could find an address or something so we would end this hunt quicker. I raced into Cassidy's room and scrambled through her underwear drawer before I found her secret lockbox, I entered the combination and dragged out the spare key and raced down the stairs almost plowing into Murphy.

"Sorry!" I hollered as I continued towards the mob room. Murphy soon joined me with a questioning look on his face and I turned and smiled at him before planting a kiss on his perfect lips.

"What was dat for?" He asked confused.

"We have a lead" I finally unlocked the door and pushed it open before walking in and heading strait to one of the filing cabinets at the back of the room, "Search for anything that has Russian script on it, or says anything about Blake" I demanded and we headed to different cabinets and started the search to find some information. It seemed like we had been searching for hours when Murphy walked over and nudged me.

"Ya need to eat somethin', ima go make lunch" He nodded towards the door and left me to do some more searching while he whipped up lunch. I was determined to find just what we were looking for and I was knee deep in papers and folders when I finally found something worth looking at. The top of the folder read 'Russian Associates' I flipped through the papers inside and almost screamed when I found a paper with about a dozen addresses that pertained to the operations of the Russian sector. I got up and ran out of the room and straight into the kitchen with the piece of paper clutched in my hand.

"I found it, now grab your guns and let's get going" I was about to run towards the door when Murphy grabbed my arm and pulled me into his arms, "Muph' we gotta go we are wasting time" I pleaded as he kissed my neck repeatedly.

"You and you need to eat" Murphy poked my stomach at the second you he said and giggled as it tickled. Murphy had gone from such a shy and shut off person when I first met him to someone who was opening up and making jokes and loving me, it was a big change, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I giggled as I remembered the first time I had kissed him outside the church and how I had 'channeled' my cousin at that moment, it seemed as though I was more like her now and she more like me, the Saints had changed us both, and I liked the way it looked on me, "Earth ta Mel, ya need ta eat" Murphy led me towards the table that had a nice turkey sandwich and a sliced apple sitting on it.

"Fine, but then we need to go" I smirked as he kissed my softly before pulling the chair out for me and joined me at the table.

Cassidy's POV

After everything was over and I felt more than violated and betrayed, all I wanted to do was crawl into a whole and never emerge because being raped as punishment was beyond low and I felt horrible. Stephan had left after everything was done, the only good thing about it all was that I got to actually sleep in that room for the night, considering I was being held captive it was the best sleep I had ever gotten. The next morning I was awoken very roughly and screamed at to put my clothes back on, as I was about to put on my jeans and then my shirt Chester walked in and demanded that I leave those where they were. I glanced up at Chester with a horrified look on my face and he ignored my loud protests as he grabbed onto my hand and led me back to the interrogation room. I closed my eyes as soon as I walked in because I knew Connor would freak the fuck out if he saw I was only in my bra and underwear after being gone all night. Chester threw me into my chair and tied my hands behind me again and when I finally opened my eyes I was face to face with a sleeping Connor, I sighed in relief, but was soon frightened when Chester decided to wake him up.

"Rise and shine buttercup" Chester smacked Connor's back and he started awake and when his eyes landed on me in my state he started to jerk around in his chair and I was afraid he was going to break the chair and kill everyone in the house, "I'll leave you two be then" Chester smirked at me and left the room.

"Get back here ya fuckin' son of a bitch!" Connor yelled, his voice deep and hoarse. Connor continued to yell profanities and insults and try and struggle out of his chair.

"Connor!" I finally yelled getting him to focus his attention on me instead on Chester who wasn't even in the room. Connor looked me up and down and I couldn't help but shudder, even though it was my boyfriend, I still didn't like the prying eyes looking me over.

"Sadie" He whispered and I finally made eye contact with him.

"Connor" I said his name because I wasn't really sure what else to say to him, he was pissed off and I couldn't comfort him or tell him what he wanted to hear, because I couldn't lie to him, not now.

"Did they?" He growled as he looked away from me. I couldn't bare to look at him, I looked down at my feet and just prayed I would live through all of this so I could personally put a bullet in Chester and Stephan's heads, "Cassidy did they or not?" Connor used my full name and I looked up at him and saw his eyes were slightly glazed with tears and his face was scrunched up in discust. I looked away quickly and looked down again trying to focus on something else so I wouldn't cry.

"Yes" I sighed and I could practically hear Connor's jaw clench at that one word.

"I'm gonna fuckin' kill 'em, all of 'em and I'm gonna torture the hell outta dat Chester guy and then kill 'em" Connor was mumbling under his breath, but I could understand every word he was saying.

"No" I interrupted him and he looked up at me and I stared into his eyes with determination, "I want to kill him and the fucker who raped me, no one but me gets to put a bullet in their bodies" I growled and Connor looked at me astonished. He continued to stare at me for a few more seconds and I finally smirked finally finding the courage to act normal.

"You've created a monster Mr. MacManus, how ever will you tame me" I threw back my head and laughed softly to myself stretching my neck out.

"Why would I ever wanna tame ya Miss Morelli" Connor smirked slightly when I finally looked at him again.

"I'm sorry" I sighed collapsing in the chair, letting all my muscles relax.

"Ya don' 'ave anyting ta be soryr 'bout" Connor shook his head.

"Can't ya see this is all my fault, pissing the Russians off in the first place, then pissing you off so you'd kill Blake instead of me, should have just shot me ya dumbass" I shook my head at the last part of my sentence and Connor actually scoffed at my comment.

"Oh, but da mob needs a pretty piece of ass like ya'rs, I'd 'ate ta deprive so many" Connor frowned after he spoke, realizing what he said.

"Hey" I raised my voice a little and Connor looked into my eyes, "We'll get through this, just don't lose that humor, I love that humor" I smiled and Connor sort of nodded before he looked at the door to see if anyone was coming in.

"Dey caught me last night tryin' ta get out after dey took ya, roughed me up a bit until I passed out, but ima try again" Connor looked at me and I nodded. He rocked his chair back and forth until he finally got his feet flat on the ground, he looked at me with a brilliant smile plastered on his face before he turned his back to me and then ran backwards towards the wall behind me. I heard a loud crash and a few grumbled curse words before Connor walked and stood in front of me, I gasped and marveled at the wonder that was Connor MacManus, he was an escape artist on top of all the other things I knew he could do. I noticed that Connor still had the handcuffs on one of his hands and I could see blood on both of his wrists from his earlier struggle when I was placed in front of him.

"How the hell did you get you hand out of there?" I nodded at his free hand as he reached behind me to untie me, obviously I wasn't as much of a threat, so no need to handcuffs.

"Broke my 'and, done it before" He shrugged and helped me out of my chair. He ran his hands up and down my arms and carefully looked me over before finally releasing me and taking his shirt off and handing it to me.

"Thanks" I smiled and put his shirt on before taking a step closer to him and tugging on his hand so he would look at me, "So what's the plan?" I asked taking a step back when he looked at me, I still felt like he was iffy about me after what happened so I wanted to give him some space, that way if he didn't want anything to do with me then I wouldn't be too disappointed.

"First" He paused and hooked an arm around my waist and brought my hips against him in one swift movement, "Ya're mine, got dat" Connor smirked before planted a rough kiss on my lips and I melted into his touch, his comforting touch that made all my worries wash away. At that moment we weren't in the middle of being help captive after I had been raped, I was kissing my man and he was kissing me.

"Now let's go kick some ass" Connor pulled away from me and grabbed my hand before we headed for the door.

**A/N: I know this one is shorter than normal, but I was having difficulty writing tonight, but I wanted to get this done and up before I fell asleep. Hope you enjoy! Thanks **_Sissymac_** and **_FLufferz_** for the reviews! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	62. Chapter 62

Melanie's POV

After we finished eating I was ready to take on the world I was determined to find my cousin and rough some people up. I couldn't help but laugh to myself at the thought of me getting violent with someone it just seemed so out of character for me, but being around Connor and Cassidy will do that to a person.

"Murph', hurry up!" I called up the stairs as Murphy was gathering things in the bedroom. When he finally walked out I gasped, he looked so menacing, and perfect. He had on dark wash jeans with a black belt and a black scoop neck fitted t-shirt, but what really finished it off was the black coat and the two identical guns strapped to him waist, "Damn" I whispered as he came down the stairs.

"Well, 're ya jus gonna stand der or what?" Murphy motioned towards the door and I finally found my footing again. I was all ready for a mission and Murphy has to go breaking my concentration. I scurried after him as he headed towards the garage, I grabbed the gun that Cassidy had given the first night we went to McGinty's and headed into the garage.

"Which car?" I asked looking at the array of cars that were still in the garage.

"Truck" Murphy replied and reached for the keys to the silver dodge truck, I vaguely remembered this always being my uncle's favorite vehicle and it warmed me to know that if he could see us all now he would be proud and pissed at the same time. We hopped into the big truck and once the garage door was raised we made our way out onto the main road.

"So the first address is on Tremont Road" I informed Murphy and he typed some things into the navigation system before speeding off in a hurry. I could tell he was chomping at the bit, wanting badly to get his brother back, it seemed like every time we all ended up together one of us was taken, I was sorry to say that I was glad it was Connor and not Murphy again. It seemed like it took forever, but we finally made it to the first address and we parked the car and slowly approached. Murphy had a hand on one of his guns as we edged closer to the building, it looked like a warehouse, but it was much different from the one I had been to before. Once we were inside we kept our backs towards each other and made our way throughout the building, making sure there was no one inside.

"Empty" Murphy growled and I nodded before lowering my weapon and putting it back in the holster, Murphy followed suit and we made our way back to the truck. Murphy inputted the next address and once again we were on our way, this property took less time to find, but confused me when we pulled up. It looked like a residential house and out front there were garden gnomes and pink flamingos. Murphy went to reach for his gun when we walked up the pathway, but I grabbed his hand a shook my head. I stepped in front of him and approached the door first, not thinking this was a hostile environment, and I was right. A sweet little old lady with a very thick Russian accent opened the door and greeted me, I played it off as I was doing a survey about how people were liking the neighborhood and she was very polite. I heard Murphy sigh heavily behind me and I started to wrap up the conversation with the lady, she bid me goodbye and I told her she had a lovely home before I left her doorstep.

"That took long enough" Murphy complained and I glared at him.

"Would you have rather me walk up to the door with my hand on my gun and her run into the next room and call the cops, that's all we need you and me in jail" I rolled my eyes and Murphy chuckled to himself.

"Ya really gotta stop hangin' 'round Cassidy, ya startin' ta sound jus like 'er" He smirked when I turned and looked at him appalled.

"And what exactly is wrong with that?" I asked crossing my arms across my chest and meaning up against the drivers side door of the truck.

"Because I dint fall in love wit 'er I fell in love wit you" He held himself up with his hand against the truck as he leaned in and gave me a swift kiss before opening the door and leaving me dazed. I shook my head and hurried around to the other side of the truck and hopped in just as he was starting the engine. Two addresses down and only ten more to go, I sighed as I typed in the next address into the navigation system, I just prayed Cassidy and Connor would live to see us rescue them in time.

Cassidy's POV

Connor opened the door and looked around to see if anyone was standing outside the door before he motioned for me to follow him. He grabbed onto my hand as soon as we were out in the hallway as a trailed behind him making sure there was no one coming out of the other rooms. It was a slow process, but we made it past the first couple doors ok, but we came up on a door at the end of the hall where there were two men guarding it. Connor turned to me and winked before he walked up to them and slammed their heads together. I stifled a laugh at the comedic way the whole thing looked and raced over to Connor when he offered me a gun. For the first time since I had arrived at this place I felt in control and safe, I liked the way the gun felt in my hand and I was ready to get some revenge. Now that we were properly armed, we started checking each room we passed, we walked into one room and immediately regretted it, obviously it was the lunch room because there were at least a dozen Russian mobsters inside and Connor and I looked at each other briefly before charging forward. We used the guns at first, but once our ammunition was gone we had to use our bodies.

"Connor, there's too many we need to get out of here!" I shouted as I kicked a man in the groin and then continued to kick him once he was on the ground. Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind and I elbowed them in the stomach, when I turned around I winced because it was Connor standing behind me doubled over in pain, "Sorry" I sighed and Connor waved me off with his hand, this time I really was grabbed by someone else from behind and I thrusted my elbow back even harder and the man dropped to his knees. Before I could finish him off, Connor had gained his composure and was taking some frustrations out on his face. I smirked for a second before I realized we weren't alone yet, I turned so my back was to Connor and approached the next man I saw. I did my best to duck his attacks, but a few punches hit my in the jaw and in the shoulder, but I got the drop on him and once he was on the ground I finished him. When I turned to see how Connor was doing he had already moved onto another guy and was bashing his fists into his face, blood was flying all over Connor's bare skin and I had to admit it looked kind of hot. We finally finished with the room and we were both panting and covered in blood and sweat, but I felt very accomplished and had no regrets, but I still had a score to settle with Stephan and Chester. We gathered all the weapons in the room and I had some extra ammunition stuffed in my bra while Connor had some magazines in his back pockets.

"Where to now?" I asked gripping the two hand guns that I had chosen. Connor stood there looking at me for a moment and closed the gap between us, crashing his lips against mine. At first I was hesitant, but then I quickly gave in and enjoyed the embrace for a few minutes before pushing Connor away slightly, "Connor we have things to do" I breathed and then closed the gap between us again and deepened the kiss.

"Dey can wait" Connor breathed into the kiss and it about made my legs melt.

"Are you sure?" I broke the kiss just long enough to speak. My mind was reeling from attacking all the people in the room, but for some reason I wanted, no needed to be with Connor right here, right now. Connor didn't verbally answer my question, but the way he grabbed my hips and brought me closer to him was all the answer I needed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he kept his hands firmly on my hips not allowing me to move as the kiss continued to spiral out of control. It was odd how something so violent could bring us so close together in such a strange place, but it didn't bother me, my boyfriend was radiating with desire and I wasn't about to let that go to waste. Suddenly Connor released my hips and stepped back from me and I felt this hole inside my heart, like I had done something wrong, or that he didn't want me anymore, but when I looked into his eyes I knew that was fighting the demon inside and that it was back to work again.

"Damnit ya need more clothes on" Connor smirked and I couldn't help but blush as Connor eyed me up and down, I was finally ok with his brilliant eyes on me and I smiled back at him, "Come on babe" Connor grabbed my hand and we made our way out of the room and towards the other parts of the house, on our mission to punish everyone for what they had done.

Melanie's POV

We made it to the fifth location and I was getting tired of going up to all of these residential houses and finding nothing buy older people and little kids. I walked up to the door the house as Murphy went around to check the windows for anything suspicious. I knocked on the door and a tall blonde with sky blue eyes opened the door and smiled at me.

"Hello, I am Melanie with the neighborhood committee and I've been asked to go around and ask a few questions about how everyone likes it here, do you mind answering a few questions?" I asked as I tried my best to get a glance into the house, but the man was making it very difficult for me to see anything.

"I'd be happy to answer them" He smirked before stepping out and closing the door behind him. I mentally cussed, knowing he was very well hiding something from me, I just could be sure what, for all I know he could be having an affair with his wife and that's what he doesn't want me to know, "Name's Stephan" He held out his hand in greeting.

"How long have you lived here?" I asked.

"About 6 years" He responded.

"Any kids?" I questioned and looked around nonchalantly trying to see where Murphy was.

"No children, just me and the wife" He explained.

"What do you do for a living?" I asked and he paused for an unusual amount of time.

"I guess you could call me a trash man" He shrugged.

"You guess?" I pressed further.

"Well I clean up messes for a living, so I'm sort of like a trash man" He said and as he spoke he kept a watchful eye on me and it made me very uncomfortable.

"What does your wife do?" I asked and he shook his head.

"She's unemployed at the moment" I nodded my head at the response and jotted down some notes, after the first couple houses I began to carrying around a notebook so my questioning looked more legitimate.

"Have you had any problems in the neighborhood, any disruptions, noisy neighbors, complaints of any kind?" I asked getting anxious because this was my last question and Murphy was still nowhere to be seen.

"There have been some disruptions, but nothing we couldn't handle ourselves" Stephan said in a very cryptic tone and I was starting to worry about what was going to happen when I tried to leave.

"Ok, well thank you for your time, I best be on my way" I smiled and shook his hand one more time.

"You take care now" He said creepily and when he opened the door I finally got a glimpse of what was inside and I swore I made eye contact with my cousin, if my cousin was covered in blood and in a shirt and underwear. I needed in that house immediately, but I walked to the truck and waited patiently for Murphy to return.

**A/N: Sorry this took a while to get posted, I was in Chicago at Comic Con where I met Norman Reedus and John Barrowman, I'm extremely tired, but knew I needed to get a chapter up. Thanks **_Flufferz_**, **_Sissymac_**, and **_McBrideReedusLover_** fort he reviews. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	63. Chapter 63

Cassidy's POV

Connor and I made our way through the rooms and finally we came to the room that they had taken me to the other night and I physically shuttered.

"'Ey" Connor nudged me and I turned to look at him and a small smirk stretched across his face, "Get ya revenge" He pointed to the door with his gun he had in his hand. I threw the door open and furiously searched around the room, but was disappointed when all I saw was a skinny man sitting in a chair. It wasn't Chester or Stephan, but just because he was in the room where I was sexually tortured I aimed my gun and shot him without a second thought. As soon as I was done I pivoted on my heel and walked back out of the room and walked by a very impressed Connor.

"Ya well on ya way ta Sainthood" Connor smirked as he smacked my ass as we walked down the stairs. I smirked before hopping down onto the bottom floor and checked my surroundings before I started walking to the left.

"Seems like they all heard our fun upstairs and bailed" I turned to look at Connor and he shook his head disagreeing with me.

"Dey wouldn't just abandon a fight, would you?" Connor had a point, but just where was everyone. I was on edge and when I heard a voice coming from down the hall my head automatically perked up and I started heading towards the sound. Just as I walked past the hallway I made eye contact with Melanie standing outside and Stephan was standing between her and me. Rage surged through me and I almost lunged forward to take care of him but Connor grabbed my arm and led me into a room just off the hallway.

"Melanie's out there, why the hell is she here, fucking Stephan, I want to kill that son of a bitch, Connor we need to do something" I growled turning to face him. Connor was deep in thought and had his head slightly bowed so I wasn't able to make eye contact with him, "Well if you won't do anything I will" I started for the door that led back out to the hallway.

Melanie's POV

Murphy arrived back at the truck about five minutes after I had and as soon as he sat down I started rattling things off.

"This is the place Murph' I saw her, I made eye contact with her, she was half dressed, which confused me, but the guy that answered the door was creepy enough to be part of the mob, we need to go in there now and save her" I finally stopped to take a breath and Murphy just stared at me.

"Well if she's up 'nd walkin' 'round den she ain't 'eld captive, so somethin' must be up, did ya see Connor?" Murphy asked as he busied his hands with checking his guns.

"I was only focused on her, what do you suppose she was doing just walking around the place, and why was she half dressed, Murph' we need to go get her, what's the plan ?" I asked feeling the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I was ready for this I was going to kick some ass and take some names, I was going to live up to the expectations that no one knew they had of me.

"Time to go in" Murphy suddenly got very serious and patted himself to make sure he had all his guns before he closed the truck door behind him. I scurried out of the truck with my own gun and followed Murphy as we made our way to the back of the house, "There were a few doors we could probably check" Murphy whispered as we rounded the corner and looked at the back of the house. We checked the first door, my adrenaline spiking when Murphy reached for the doorknob, I half expected an alarm to go off and our rescue mission to be shut down. Luckily nothing went off, but the door didn't budge so we made our way to the next door and once again my adrenaline spiked, but this time it continued to stay at a high level when the door swung open and Murphy and I made out way in. I followed Murphy through the back of the house carefully making our way through the hallway and into the kitchen, it seemed like the house was deserted, but I knew better than that.

"Where do you suppose everyone is?" I asked when Murphy stopped to look around the kitchen.

"I don' know, but I don' like da feelin' of dis" Murphy shook his head and I instantly started to worry, if Murphy didn't have a good feeling about this, then I needed to be on edge as well, "This way" Murphy motioned for me to follow him and we turned the corner into the next hallway.

Cassidy's POV

"Sadie stop" Connor spoke up and I turned to look at him confused, he still had his head bowed and it was concerning me.

"What?" I asked taking a few steps closer to him, for the first time since I had met him he looked worried and I didn't like that at all. I wanted so badly to just comfort him or do anything to take that look off his face, but another part of me wanted to continue on my mission and make the people pay for what they had done. For the first time since Connor and I had met it seemed our roles were reversed.

"We need ta stick togedder, if ya wanna go look for Mel, den I'm comin' wit ya" Connor finally looked up at me and the worried look disappeared from his face and was replaced by a fierce and heated stare, he was ready to fight no matter what happened.

"Oh so now you're on my side, a few seconds ago you wouldn't even look at me, Connor you can be a dick about whatever is bothering you later, but right now I want to go get my cousin" I stepped away from him and walked out of the room. I could tell he was right on my heels and when I turned the corner I had to stifle a few words slipping out of my mouth because I ran into two people. I was so flustered at first that I didn't look to see who it was, but when I realized that I hadn't been caught I focused on the two people standing in front of me and I immediately heaved a sigh of relief.

"Cassidy, you're ok" Melanie leaned forward and embraced me in a tight hug as I patted her on the back.

"I'm fine" I lied shaking all the feelings that were welling up inside me at the sight of my cousin, "I was just going to find you, I saw you at the front door with Stephan" I spat his name with rage and Melanie looked at me confused for a second.

"We saw the guesthouse and I immediately jumped to the worst conclusions, but then we saw Connor's phone, we knew if you were gone Connor was with you and would protect you, but then we decided that you had been taken, we tried to figure out just who would take you and narrowed it down to the Russians, they want both you and Connor dead, so I looked through the mob stuff and found a list of addresses, we checked them until we found this one" Melanie explained and I nodded. I was impressed that Melanie and Murphy had accomplished so much and had pieced together the puzzle so well. When I finally focused on Connor he was deep in conversation with Murphy and I cleared my throat breaking up their talk. I nodded at Murphy and leaned forward to give him a quick hug, as much as him and Connor had changed my life I had come to think of him as family and I was glad to see him too.

"So what's the plan boys?" I asked putting my hands on my hips and looking from Murphy to Connor. Murphy eyed me oddly and I smirked as I realized he noticed I was half undressed.

"Long story" I winked, not wanting to get into it at the moment, but I could tell by the look on Melanie's face that she was going to press me for information later.

"Well first off, you girls need to go back out da way Murph' 'nd Mel came in 'nd leave us ta take care of dese guys" Connor was explaining and I laughed in his face.

"You have lost your mind if you think I'm going to leave this house and let you two take all the glory, I'm just as much in this as you are" I glared at Connor angry that he would even think about telling me to leave, especially when he knew I wanted revenge. And even if I wasn't hell bent on revenge I would never leave him to fight on his own, not when I was still fully capable of it.

"Yea, I'm not leaving either" Melanie stood next to me and crossed her arms across her chest and practically dared Murphy to say something about her staying.

"Sadie" Connor lowered his voice and I shook my head.

"Enough with the Sadie shit, Connor either we stay, or we all leave" I stood my ground and Connor glared back at me until he finally groaned.

"Ya're damn stubborn, ya know dat" Connor continued to focus on me like it was just the two of us and I smirked at his comment.

"You have no idea" I winked and Connor turned to look at Murphy and he nodded in response and then we all made our way down the hallway Connor and I had originally came down. Suddenly the hallway opened up into a big empty room, everyone looked at each other and searched the room, nothing seemed out of place and as we were about to leave the room I saw a familiar face appear.

"Looks like the family's all here" Chester sneered as he walked out with 6 of his men. They surrounded us in the room with weapons drawn and Stephan walked out a few seconds later and stood next to Chester. I could feel the anxiety and rage surging to the surface and at that moment I wanted to take both of them out, but I had other people to think about besides me. Instinctively I stepped in front of Melanie and both Murphy and Connor stepped in front of both of us. I watched as Connor and Murphy stood back to back checking their surroundings while I kept my gaze fixed on Chester and Stephan.

"What's so special about that one" Chester said taking a step towards us as he kept his eyes on Melanie. Everyone except Melanie drew their weapons, "Now, now, no need to be hasty, we can all get along here" Chester held his hands up trying to get us to calm down and I laughed.

"Get along, you call blowing up my guesthouse, kidnapping me and Connor, torturing us, and then threatening to kill is, getting along. You must have really had a rotten childhood" I hissed trying to get in front of Connor so there was less space between Chester and I. Chester smiled at me and then looked to Connor before speaking.

"She's a little spitfire, you wouldn't mind if I took her of your hands, I could really use someone like her" Connor lowered his gun and took a step forward to look Chester square in the eyes.

"You've already used 'er once, ya lucky you're even standin' 'ere now, if she wasn't a spitfire I'd kill ya now, but I want 'er to 'ave the satisfaction" Connor growled and I felt a chill run down my spine. I finally knew what Connor sounded and looked like when he was really mad, I had seen that once, when he had found out I was the mob boss, but it gave me some insight into all the other 'angry' encounters we had, had.

"And what makes you think you have the upper hand, last I checked I had more men and more guns, did you two really think you would make it out of here, and you two did you really think you'd be able to rescue them" Chester looked form Connor and me to Melanie and Murphy.

"And what makes you think we aren't fully capable of killing the rest of your men, after all we took care of all of them upstairs" I spoke up and Chester's eyes darted to me and I felt like he was undressing me with his eyes as he studied me.

"No worries there, you four aren't a real threat" Chester scoffed.

"You really shouldn't have said that, because little do you know, but you're in the presence of Saints" I smiled when Chester's boasting face dropped to a frown and wide eyes.

**A/N: Here is the next chapter, sorry it took me a little while to get up, it's been getting a little hard to write as frequently. School is coming up so updates will start to be slower, that is if I don't get a stock pile of chapters typed, which probably won't happen. Thanks **_Sissymac_** for the review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	64. Chapter 64

Cassidy's POV

"What's a matter Chester, you look a little pale, you wouldn't be afraid of two girls and their harmless boyfriends that just happen to be the Saints of Boston" I teased as I took a few steps closer to Chester. I could tell he was very uneasy and I was reveling in the power his uneasiness was giving me.

"I'm the head of this mob, they don't scare me" Chester tried to keep his voice from wavering, but he failed miserably.

"Ha, you should say that to my father, oh wait you can't because he's dead, thanks to these two" I pointed at Murphy and Connor and turned back to look at Chester, "Just so you know they kill with a shot to the head, quick and easy, I'm not going to be that nice" I sneered before I turned my back to him and looked to Connor, "Take it away babe" I said before I walked back over to stand at Melanie's side. I watched Connor carefully and when I saw he was gripping the gun in his hand I yanked on Melanie's arm and we both dropped to the ground as bullets from both Connor and Murphy's guns were fired over us. I glanced up as the gunfire continued and I saw the henchmen all drop to the ground, but I also spotted Chester and Stephan fleeing the room and I immediately left Melanie's side and chased after them.

Melanie's POV

I closed my eyes for a second and when I opened them Cassidy was gone I saw a flash of her clothing and then she was down another hallway. I was so confused as to why she was so hell bent on taking Chester out, but I would question that later, I needed to follow her now and make sure she was alright. As Connor and Murphy tended to the dead in the room I snuck out and headed the direction I saw Cassidy run.

"Cass, where are you?" I whispered hoping that she would find me before anyone else.

"So you're the one they were all protecting, what's so special about you?" I turned to face Chester and I had to swallow my fear before I drew my gun and aimed it at him.

"Stay away from me" I demanded and he just smiled, it was a toothy smile and it shook me to my core. I looked around frantically, hoping that Cassidy would find me, but it didn't look like that was going to happen anytime soon.

"Tell me, what's so important about you?" He asked again and took a step closer to me, I instinctively took a step back, but ran my back into a wall. I was trapped and I knew the only thing I had to protect myself with was the gun in my hand.

"You take one more step and I'll shoot" I warned and Chester just laughed.

"Pretty little thing like you, so innocent and sweet, you wouldn't hurt a fly let alone shoot me" I was shaking my head at his insults, I was not as sweet and innocent as I seemed.

"She might not, but I would" Murphy growled before firing a few rounds into Chester's chest. Chester dropped to the ground lifeless and I stepped forward to look at him. So many emotions were bubbling up inside of me, but the most prominent was hate, so I raised my gun and pointed it at his skull and pulled the trigger. Immediately everything seemed better, I felt like I had avenged the kidnapping of my cousin and Connor and the man responsible was dead.

"Cassidy's not going to be too happy about that" Connor broke my concentration as he walked into the hallway shaking his head.

"She wanted him dead, what does it matter who kills him?" I questioned holstering my gun.

"You'll 'ave at ask 'er 'bout dat one" Connor shrugged, "Speaking of Cassidy, where is she?" Just as Connor finished speaking we heard a rebel yell coming from down the hall. Connor pushed past me and ran as Murphy and I tried to hurry after him. Finally we all stopped in a room at the end of the hall and there was a frightening sight in front of us. Cassidy was sitting on the ground covered in blood and Stephan was laying lifeless on the floor with quite a few gun shot wounds and stab wounds from a knife, but what was more frightening was the ghost like look on Cassidy's face as she stared down at the body.

"Cassidy are you ok?" I asked softly, trying not to startle her. I took a few steps towards her, but she never once looked in my direction. I looked at Connor and nodded for him to try something because obviously I wasn't getting through to her.

"Sadie" Connor kneeled down next to Cassidy and placed a hand on her shoulder, she suddenly gasped and turned to look at him and as soon as she made eye contact with him she melted. She threw her arms around his neck and sank into his chest the tears streaming down her face and her body heaving when she tried to breath, "It's ok" Connor repeated as he rubbed her back trying to calm her down, "Sadie, 're ya 'urt?" Connor held Cassidy at arms length and tried to look her over, but it was too difficult to see anything with all the blood.

"We need ta get outta 'ere" Murphy finally spoke up and I jumped, almost forgetting that he was in the room. I smiled at him weakly and grabbed his hand as we walked out of the room and headed for the front of the house. Murphy and I made our way to the truck and waited for Connor and Cassidy to come out when they were ready.

Cassidy's POV

I finally composed myself and wiped the tears from my face as I sat back and looked at Connor.

"Ya feel better?" He asked and I nodded, "Then why ya cryin', isn't dis what ya wanted?" He questioned and I shrugged. I wanted revenge, I got it, I think what scared me the most is that I enjoyed it, I enjoyed punishing someone for doing wrong.

"I'm covered in blood" I stated looking down at the shirt Connor had given me, it was almost completely saturated with blood and my arms and face were crusted with dried blood.

"Let's get ya 'ome 'nd cleaned up, dat sound good?" Connor asked and I took a deep breath and nodded. Connor stood up first and held out his hand to help me up, everything hurt as I stood up and I remembered the struggle I had, had with Stephan before I was finally able to get him down. He had managed a few kicks to my abdomen and I could feel the old wound sting as I started to walk, he had also managed to slice me with his knife on my arm a couple times, that was before I kicked his legs out from underneath of him and I was able to get the knife. On top of everything he had also managed to punch me in the jaw where I had been punched earlier in my stay at the house I deemed hell. Connor and I finally made it outside and made our way to the truck Melanie and Murphy had come in, and as soon as I got inside I immediately relaxed, all the stress and anxiety just rolling off of me.

"Ya good?" Connor asked after he buckled me into the backseat.

"Yea, thanks" I smiled and Connor busied himself with buckling his own seat belt, "Connor" I called his name and he looked at me quickly, thinking something was wrong, "I love you" I smirked before my eyes drifted shut and I was lost to sleep.

Connor's POV

I tried to hide the smile Cassidy's words brought to my face because I knew Murphy was staring at me in the rearview mirror.

"So what are we going to do about all the bodied, won't they know it was you guys?" Melanie asked as I finally took my gaze off of Cassidy, she was exhausted so she wouldn't be waking up for a while now.

"We're pretty good at keepin' a low profile, don' worry 'bout dem findin' us" I responded and Melanie looked at Murphy for reassurance.

"We've made it dis far, ya really gonna question our methods now?" He laughed and Melanie just shook her head. I leaned back in my seat and let the two in the front worry about where we were going, I was just glad to finally have Cassidy safe. She had sure made me proud while we were trapped here, through everything, she still managed to find the high ground and make people bend to her will, she was definitely a leader and a tough one at that. I look over at her as she slept and the sight of all the blood on her made my anger surge, I was mad because I wasn't able to keep them from taking her, I was mad because they took her from me and violated her, I was also mad because she wouldn't let me take care of it for her, but that last one was one of the reasons I loved her, she wasn't afraid to fight her own battles no matter the type of work it involved. If I hadn't of known any better I'd say she was becoming just like Murphy and I, taking pride in taking care of the corrupted, granted that included her, though she would never agree with that statement. We finally arrived back at the Morelli mansion and Murphy parked the truck in the garage before we all piled out. I jumped out of the truck and made my way over to Cassidy's side of the truck and carried her out and up the stairs to her room. I tried my best to wash all the blood off of her and bandage everything up. As I was wrapping one of her cuts on her arm Melanie walked in and handed me an icepack to place on the giant bruise that was forming on Cassidy's stomach.

"She's tough ya know, she'll make it through this" Melanie placed her hand on my shoulder and I looked up at her and nodded stiffly.

"She is tough" I smirked as I went back to tending to her wounds. Once I as finished I left the room and let her sleep walking downstairs to get a drink and try and recuperate.

"So ya survived brudder" Murphy smacked me on the back as he sat down neck to me on the couch with a glass of whiskey similar to mine.

"Ya doubted me?" I pretended to be hurt my Murphy's words, but we both laughed and relaxed into the couch.

"They roughed ya up pretty good" Murphy poked the bruise that was above my right eye and I winced.

"Believe me de udder guys looked worse" I took a swig of whiskey and sighed. After that it was pretty silent, with Murphy and I we didn't need to speak out feelings or even feel them, we knew each other well enough that there was no need.

"I'm gonna 'ead ta bed, see ya in da mornin'" Murphy patted my shoulder before he made his way up the stairs. I grabbed the remote to the TV and made myself comfortable on the couch, I would have gone upstairs as well, but I figured Cassidy could use the whole bed for herself for tonight. After a few minutes of watching the TV the events of the past few days caught up with me ad sleep took me with not protests from my body of my brain.

Melanie's POV

"I'm worried about her Murphy, there was something wrong with her in that room" I confessed to Murphy as he was getting ready to get in bed. It seemed so odd us doing this domestic type stuff when Murphy was anything but domestic.

"She's tough Mel, I dint see anyting wrong wit it" Murphy shrugged as he crawled into bed and pulled the covers over him.

"But the look on her face was so strange, and why was she so determined to kill Chester and Stephan, I just don't understand" I shook my head not quite getting what was going on with Cassidy.

"You worry too much 'bout da ones ya love, jus' relax 'nd take a night ta relax, it's not good for ya ta be stressed in your condition" Murphy kissed me on the cheek and turned to snuggle into his pillow and go to sleep. I layed there for a while longer and just thought about the events of the day, I was still worried about Cassidy but I would put that aside for the night so I could let my body rest.

**A/N: So here is the next chapter, sorry it took so long, I've been trying to get some stockpile of chapters so that I can update more often during school. Hope everyone enjoys the chapter. Thanks **_Sissymac_** for the review. Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	65. Chapter 65

Cassidy's POV

When I awoke I was laying in my bed at home and all the lights were off, I reached for the covers so I could get out of bed and immediately felt the aftermath of the previous day. I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the door so I could turn on the lights and once they were on I walked to my floor length mirror and gasped at the sight in front of me. I had a nice bruise on my jaw line from being punched, I had a bandage wrapped around my left arm in two places, and I had an ice pack tapped and wrapped to my abdomen. I stretched my back as best as I could before I made my way out of my room and carefully down the stairs. When I walked into the kitchen Connor saw me first and stood up to help me to the kitchen table.

"Stop it!" I smacked his hand when he tried to pick me up, "I'm sore not handicapped" I smirked and sat down at the table. Connor joined me at the table, taking the spot he was sitting at earlier, he wasn't saying much, but sometimes he didn't need to say anything. I reached across the table and grabbed his mug and drank what coffee was left in it and he just shook his head and scoffed before getting up and pouring himself another mug.

"So how are you feeling?" I asked him as he sat back down, I wasn't the only one who had taken a beating while we were in hell.

"Felt worse" He shrugged taking a drink and then setting his mug down before sighing heavily.

"What?" I asked annoyed, he was being very mysterious and quiet and I didn't like it, what happened to my badass and always joking Connor.

"Are ya ok?" He finally asked and I looked into his eyes and nodded.

"Connor I'm fine, nothing time won't heal" I smiled and stood up to get some more coffee.

"Cuts and bruises yes" Connor stated and I finally knew what he was being so shady about, he was worried about the rape thing.

"Conn, I'm fine, it was traumatic and I'm still pissed and upset about it, but there's nothing I can do, I took care of the son of a bitch and now I have you to focus on, that's all that matters" I walked back to the table and placed my coffee mug down before I sat down on Connor's lap, "You have nothing to worry about, I'm fine and we're fine, right?" I asked and Connor nodded before I kissed him, "What happened to Chester, by the way, I never ran into him, and I was so focused on Stephan that I totally forgot about him" Connor smirked a little before he responded.

"Murphy shot 'em because he was threatenin' Melanie, but she put a bullet in 'is 'ead for ya" I smiled at Connor's boast, even though him and Melanie didn't get along all that well he was proud of her ferocity.

"You sure seem proud of the two monsters you helped create" I smirked as he nodded slightly and I placed my lips back on his.

"Oh get a room you two" Murphy whined as he walked into the kitchen to fill his mug and pour a glass of orange juice.

"Oh shut it MacManus" I retorted and he turned and smiled at me.

"Glad ta see ya up 'nd back ta normal Cass" Murphy nodded at Connor before leaving the room again.

"What's up with you and Murph', seemed like a very cold nod there" I looked at Connor and he just shrugged, "This isn't still about him and Mel expecting a baby is it, Connor you really need to let it go, plus you have something better than a baby" I smirked as Connor's eyebrow raised in excitement, "Me" I smirked and Connor rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"I'm glad ya're ok, 'nd I love you too" Connor said and I was confused at first as to why he said he loved me too, but then I remembered my last words before I fell asleep. Connor wrapped his arms around me as I continued to sit on his lap and just held onto me for a while. It felt so good to be back in his arms, home and safe with everyone I loved.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked once Connor finally released me and I was sitting back in my chair.

"A good fifteen hours, ya body needed time ta repair" Connor explained and I stifled a yawn, in my opinion I had slept too much and this meant I was going to be tired all day.

"Yea, I suppose so, well I'm gonna go see how Melanie is" I stood up and walked out of the kitchen reluctant to leave Connor alone. When I walked into the living room Murphy and Melanie were snuggled on the couch watching TV, but I cleared my throat and Melanie immediately wiggled out of Murphy's arms and stood up to embrace me in a hug.

"Easy now, I'm awake but still wounded" I groaned and Melanie immediately backed off and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry about that" She suddenly acted very shy, "Cass there are some things I want to ask you, can we go somewhere to talk?" She asked and I nodded before leading her into the secret mob room back towards the kitchen.

"Jesus, you sure did make a mess of the place" I laughed as I turned to look at Melanie, the expression on her face was worried and embarrassed, "Don't worry about it, so what did you wanna talk about?" I asked sitting down in my plush chair at the head of the table. It had been so long since I had been in this room and in this chair that it felt so relaxing. Melanie sat down in the chair just to my right before she spoke.

"Cass, what all happened while you were in that house, something seems different about you" Melanie asked and I suddenly became very uncomfortable, she could sense that something had happened, but I was reluctant to actually talk about it.

"A lot of things happened Mel, they tortured us in all sorts of ways" It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't all the details involved in the full truth.

"Like what, what did Chester and Stephan do to you, and why were you in just underwear and Connor's shirt?" Melanie continued to ask questions and I figured if she asked the right ones, everything would finally click for her and I wouldn't have to explain it. I looked up at her my eyes hooded, trying to protect myself from reliving everything that had happened, but she still wasn't putting the pieces together.

"Chester beat me, right in front of Connor as a punishment for killing Blake, Connor was roughed up the most when Chester took me away from him and took me to a separate room where Stephan was in charge of my torture" I looked down at my hands in my lap hoping that she would finally understand what had gone down. Suddenly I heard a gasp and when I looked up Melanie had a hand over her mouth and her eyes were starting to water.

"Don't, don't do that, no waterworks" I demanded as I stared at Melanie trying to keep my own tears back. I didn't need to dwell on what had happened, I needed to push forward and focus on my future.

"Cassidy I'm so sorry" Melanie tried to hide her sob, but it escaped and she shook her head.

"It's done and over with, time to move on" I nodded sternly and she just looked at me confused.

"It's ok to grieve Cassidy, it's ok to feel for once, to get upset, to show your emotions" Melanie started to get a little agitated at my lack of response.

"Wait, how the hell did this turn around to me not being overly emotional, I shed my tears already, I cursed my luck, I got my revenge and the man who did this horrible thing to me is gone, time to move on" I was getting pissed off at how every time something happened to me Melanie reacted ten times more emotionally than I had, and somehow it was my fault.

"Cass I'm sorry, it's just that most of the time you let everything bottle up inside when you really shouldn't" Melanie was trying to look into my eyes, but I was avoiding her gaze because I was officially uncomfortable.

"Are we done here?" I asked wanting to get out of the room and escape.

"No, we aren't, talk to me Cassidy, what's going on with you, you're acting so distant and off" Melanie demanded as she leaned closer to me trying to comfort me.

"I don't know what you want me to say to you Mel" I shook my head, sometimes its hard to know just what Melanie wants from me, and it was really starting to piss me off.

"Why were you so upset after you killed Stephan, tell me that, why were you ghostly pale if that's what you wanted, why did you cry into Connor's chest, but you won't talk to me, am I not your best friend and your family?" Melanie was yelling at me at this point and I just started laughing, which shut her up right away, "Are you laughing at me?" She asked, her own anger surging.

"Because I fucking liked it!" I yelled and Melanie gasped, "I enjoyed punishing him for what he had done to me, I didn't feel remorse when I was crying, I was scared of myself at that point, scared of what I had done, scared of what I wasn't feeling, scared that I was losing myself, is that what you wanted to hear!" I yelled before throwing my chair back and standing there staring at her, "And Connor understands me, you overreact to everything, and I thought I was doing you a favor by sheltering you from all of this, after all it's not healthy for the baby!" I yelled before I left the room, ignoring Melanie's protests. Leave it to Melanie to take my first day back and turn it into a completely horrible day of reminiscing. I stormed up the stairs and headed straight for my room and made my way into the bathroom, I drew a bath and stripped my clothes and bandages and slowly slipped into the water to wash away all the stress that was brought up.

Melanie's POV

After Cassidy stormed out of the room I heaved a sigh of defeat, I hadn't meant to make her so upset, but I suppose all the memories being brought up wasn't a good idea. I walked out a few minutes later and Murphy was standing there expectantly with a questioning look on his face.

"Is everyting ok?" He asked no sounding too thrilled at the moment.

"Yea" I lied, I felt horrible for making Cassidy feel so bad, but I needed to know what was bothering her, because she was damn stubborn and she would never tell me on her own especially since she seemed to trust Connor more now, I'd be lying if I said that didn't bother me.

"Ya don' sound so sure" Murphy pressed and I just shook my head, warning him not to press any further. I couldn't help but think that my worrying and the fact that my emotions were out of control was due to the baby growing inside me. I looked down at my stomach and frowned, it was going to be a long 8 months until he or she was born and things were only going to get worse. I walked over to Murphy and he instinctively wrapped his arms around me and I leaned into his chest and breathed his scent in which instantly calmed me. I would make it through all of this, and I would make things right with Cassidy, because there was no way in hell I was going to have this child without my best friend by my side, even if she was a pain in the ass sometimes.

Connor's POV

I heard shouting coming from the secret room Cassidy always went into, and then out of no where I saw Cassidy appear and storm up the stairs. I was about to chase after her, but decided that she might need a little time, she wasn't always the type that wanted to be smothered when she was upset or mad, she would let me know if she needed me. I busied myself downstairs by watching some TV and finally decided after about an hour that I should go upstairs and check on Cassidy. I slowly opened the door once I made it to her room and found her lying in bed staring at the ceiling.

"'Ey" I said softly and she turned her head to look at me and smiled softly.

"Hey" She responded back and I made my way over to the bed and sat down.

"What are ya up to?" I asked as she went back to staring at the ceiling.

"Stewing in my own feelings and anger" She giggled a little to herself, but winced from the pain in her abdomen, "Ya know, Melanie can be so difficult, not that I can blame her, she's just like my mother in that aspect, and sometimes that makes it ten times worse" She sighed and finally looked at me, "Can you do me a favor Connor?" She asked and I tilted my head as my answer, "I need my wounds bandaged again, and I know you did them the first time"

"It would be my pleasure" I stood up and walked out to the hall closet and got the first aid kit and returned to Cassidy's room.

"You know you can really be sweet sometimes" Cassidy smiled up at me as I finished the final wrap on her arm.

"What me, I don' think so, ya got me confused wit someone else, 'ave ya been seein' someone behind my back?" I smirked and she playfully punched my arm as I pretended to be hurt, "'Ey ya gotta watch ya strength" I smiled as she giggled at my joke and then flopped back onto her bed. I caught myself taking in her appearance, the way her dirty blonde hair fell onto her pillow, how her fading smile had stretched her skin making her cheeks pinken, and how her eyes were staring right back at me. I cleared my throat at the realization and immediately looked away, I couldn't be caught going soft just yet.

"You take such good care of me Conn, thanks" Cassidy sat up and grabbed my arm before pulling me down so I was laying next to her. She snuggled up to me and finally found a comfortable spot where she wasn't in pain and planted a soft kiss on my cheek. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me and let her lay there until she drifted to sleep, she may have thought she slept too much the night before, but her body still needed the rest, and if I was being honest, so could I. It wasn't long until I too was asleep and was lost in my thoughts and dreams until tomorrow.

**A/N: Chapter 65 getting close and closer to the next big mark! Hope everyone is still enjoying, hope it's not getting to out of control. Thanks for the review**_ Sissymac_**! Wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	66. Chapter 66

Connor's POV

I was woken up the next morning by an annoying sound coming from the bathroom, and when I finally woke up I realized that it was Cassidy's blow dryer making the noise. I groaned before I decided to physically get out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. When I peeked my head in Cassidy was moving her hips to the song she was singing as she was bent over blow drying the underneath of her hair. I smirked at the almost childlike thing she was doing, it took the woman I had become to know as shut off and very tough and turned her into something that was so innocent. Finally Cassidy stood back up, and with a flip of her hair she looked into the mirror and gasped as she saw me, she immediately turned the blow dryer off and faced me.

"Morning, um how long have you been standing there?" She asked and I could tell she was embarrassed by her little show.

"Not long" I lied, trying to make her feel better. I ignored her raised eyebrow and 'I know you're lying' face and went to hop in the shower. The hot water felt so good on my sore muscles and I couldn't help but stay in for a few minutes longer than I needed too.

"So what's got ya so eager ta get up dis mornin'?" I asked as I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist.

"Needed something to do, you were asleep, figured I might as well busy myself with something I enjoy" She winked and I rolled my eyes at her sorry excuse for a jab at me.

"You're kiddin yaself there sweetie" I smirked running my hands through my hair quickly, trying to get some of the water out. I walked over to the sink and picked up the spare toothbrush I had claimed as mine and ran it under the faucet before applying toothpaste and sticking it in my mouth.

"No babe, I think you are the one kidding yourself" Cassidy walked over and leaned against the sink as she stared into my eyes. I never took my gaze off of her as she stood there, her arms crossed across her chest pushing her breasts out of the top of her dress slightly.

"Ya know ya like it" I mumbled through the foamy toothpaste in my mouth before I finally broke eye contact and spit into the sink.

"Maybe just a little" I turned the faucet on and rinsed the sink and my toothbrush before I looked up at her with hooded eyes and a mischievous grin.

"Ya jus' keep on tellin' yaself dat, whatever helps ya sleep at night" I walked out of the bathroom and went in search of some clean clothes, knowing that I had a duffel bag somewhere with a few shirts and a pair of jeans.

"I sleep very well at night I'll have you know" Cassidy retorted as she followed me into her bedroom.

"Only 'cause ya got me lyin' beside ya" I laughed at her guilty smile and took my towel off before I slipped on a pair of jeans. I was about to put a shirt on as well, but Cassidy walked over and stopped me by placing a hand on my bicep. Her hand then went up to my face and she tenderly brushed her fingers over the bruised area above my eye, she winced to herself, as if feeling my pain and then dropped her hand back down to her side. I grabbed her hand and placed it on my chest and her eyes suddenly made contact with mine, she was shocked and a little confused, but I just leaned into her touch as her fingers flexed. She then searched my whole torso for bruises and whenever she found one she would kiss it before moving onto the next. Finally she had kissed all my exposed bruises better and she leaned away, but I wasn't about to let her go, not after teasing me with all the gentle touching. I placed my hand behind her head gently and laced my fingers through her hair before leaning down and placing my lips on hers. At first she was a little resilient, but then she started to kiss back as she leaned into me, placing her right hand on my chest as the other gripped my back. I nipped her lower lip and slowly ran my tongue across it before she finally opened her mouth and allowed me access, slowly our tongues fell into a rhythm, moving with each other and then against each other. I pulled her closer to me and deepened the kiss as she let out a moan mixed with a whimper and suddenly everything shut down and I backed away in one swift movement. Cassidy stood there breathless and in a haze as she stared at me with hot, troubled eyes, there was nothing I wanted more than to just take her then and there, but the fact that she was hurt and I was causing her pain was enough to stop what urges I had.

"Connor" She whispered and I almost resumed where I had left off, but I waited for her to regain control, "I can't" She paused and it seemed like she was telling herself she couldn't, "I just can't" She said again and this time it was aimed at me, I nodded as a response and she quickly pivoted on her heels and walked out of the room. I watched her leave and it was almost like it was in slow motion, the royal blue dress that hugged every curve she had bounced with her movement and her wavy hair swayed as she walked and I was lost in her body, that was until she peeked her head around the corner after she left.

"Oh and do put on a shirt, you are very distracting" She winked before she left again and I did as I was told before following her down the stairs.

Cassidy's POV

Connor and I made our way downstairs and I was feeling a little bummed after pushing Connor away, but there was no way I was fit to be doing anything but relaxing. When I walked into the kitchen I saw Melanie turn to look who was walking into the kitchen and she immediately stiffened.

"Morning" I smiled ignoring the timid smile she returned and moved on to get some coffee.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Melanie asked leaning up against the counter.

"Better thanks" I took a sip out of my mug and faced her.

"Listen Cass I didn't mean-" Melanie began, but I cut her off.

"Forget about it, that's what families do" I shrugged and smirked at her. Melanie seemed to still be tiptoeing around me, but she would get used to it.

"I'm sorry" She looked down at her own mug in her hands.

"It's fine" I shook my head trying to get her to drop it. Suddenly Melanie rushed at me and embraced me in a hug, at first I was a little taken back, but then I wrapped my arms around her and returned the hug.

"We're good right?" Melanie finally broke the hug and looked at me.

"Yea, we're good" I nodded. I took another drink out of my mug and Connor walked in with Murphy right behind him.

"You two gettin' along again?" Connor teased as he reached for a mug to get coffee, but I stepped in front of me him and glared playfully.

"Yes" Melanie looked at Connor with a disapproving look.

"Good" Murphy spoke so Melanie's attention was focused on him and not on Connor. I looked at Connor and he motioned towards Melanie and mouthed, 'what's wrong with her?' I just shook my head and made him a cup of coffee before following him out of the room so Melanie and Murphy could talk. Once we were in the living room I walked over to the patio doors and looked out at the pile of rubble that used to be my guesthouse and shook my head. There was now yellow caution tape around the whole thing, obviously the cops came when we were all at the house deemed hell.

"The cops will come by any day now since no one was home when they roped it all off" I stated and Connor came and stood by me at the doors. I looked over at him quickly and before he saw me I stole the pack of cigarettes and lighter that were in his back pocket. I opened the door and stepped out and took out a cigarette before placing it between my lips and lighting the tip. I inhaled deeply and then let out my breath as the smoke floated up in front of me. Suddenly the pack of cigarettes was ripped from my hand and the lighter soon followed, I turned and glared at Connor playfully as he placed a cigarette between his lips.

"Those will kill ya" I smirked blowing the smoke out of my nose.

"Then we'll die togedder" Connor laughed as he exhaled the smoke from his mouth.

"I suppose that would be ok" I snuck a look at Connor and he was looking at me a little appalled, but I could tell he was just joking around. We stood there in silence for a little while as I puffed on my cigarette and stared at the rubble, all of my family belongings were in there, and now they were all gone, but what mattered was that everyone was safe, and the men responsible were gone.

"Guess we won't be able ta do dis as often when da baby's born" Connor blew smoke into my face when I faced him.

"Oh, so you're thinking about the baby now, not so bitter anymore" I smirked when Connor rolled his eyes and groaned, "Oh come on, you're telling me you aren't excited to be an uncle, you can teach that kid everything you know, spoil it and make it a little Saint" I smirked when his eyes got a little wide.

"Well I can tell you've been thinkin' 'bout it" Connor was suddenly accusatory.

"Is there a law against that, it's my cousin's baby, yea I'm excited about it, I want to spoil him or her with all the nice things that I can afford" I found myself smiling at the thought, my feelings of negativity against her for being pregnant were gone and I was truly happy for Melanie and Murphy.

"Well then, glad ya on the bandwagon now" Connor sounded agitated.

"Connor MacManus" I growled and he looked at me with a spark in his eyes.

"Sadie" Connor lulled and I was distracted from my purpose for a few seconds.

"Don't try and distract me" I said through clenched teeth as Connor threw his cigarette down on the ground and snuffed it out with his shoe. He took a few steps towards me and gently touched my arm, "Connor" I whined backing away from him, "This isn't helping, you need to learn to be ok with the baby and stop being jealous or mad, or whatever it is that you are feeling, there are too few of us for you to chose to be at odds with Murphy" I lectured trying to ignore Connor trying to distract me by running his hand up and down my arm and stepping closer and closer to me. By the time I got done speaking Connor was pressed against me and I was staring up at him with a disapproving look.

"You are unbelievable" I frowned as Connor smirked down at me, clearly thinking he was funny.

"Ya 'ave no idea 'ow unbelievable I can be" Connor grabbed my leg and hitched it up to his hip before he ran his hand up my dress and tugged at my underwear.

"Connor!" I yelled before shoving away from him and fixing my dress. I shook my head in frustration and headed back towards the patio door, but Connor grabbed onto my arm and pulled me close to him.

"'Ow long ya gonna tease me" Connor tried to hitch my dress up again, but I shoved him away and glared at him.

"You trying to distract me, is only pissing me off!" I yelled and suddenly I heard someone clear their throat behind me, and when I turned around Murphy was standing there not looking very pleased.

"What is it Murph'?" I asked trying to keep the agitation out of my voice, but failing.

"Someone at the door for ya, Mel said for us ta stay back 'ere" Murphy spoke the second half to Connor. I turned at glared at Connor one last time and his face softened into a slight frown before I headed inside and straight to the front door.

"Can I help you?" I asked once I opened the door.

"Good morning Miss Morelli, I'm Edward Smith with the FBI, I have a few questions pertaining to a few odd happenings around here, if you don't mind" Edward, a man of average height, muscular build, and shaggy brown hair shook my hand before walking into my house. I followed him in and looked at Melanie with worry in my eyes, it was going to be hard to get out of this one.

**A/N: So unfortunately readers, college has started back up again and I will be super busy, but this does not mean no updates, it just means less frequent updates. I plan on updating every three days or something like that, but sometimes maybe longer. Sorry if this upsets you! I hope you understand. Anyway, thanks **_Sissymac_** for the review, wanna be mentioned R&R Please!**


	67. Chapter 67

Murphy's POV

"What da 'ell was dat all about?" I asked Connor after Cassidy had gone inside to go to the door.

"Leave it be Murph'" Connor shook his head and rubbed his forehead in agitation. I was slightly aggravated with Connor, over the past few days Connor had been very distant and almost mad at me for no reason hat I could think of.

"What ya got against me, we're supposed ta be brudders, ya still mad at me for something I can't control?" I ran a hand through my hair and glared at Connor, "Ya know it seemed like you were tryin' ta take advantage of Cass earlier, are ya dat type of person now, who are you anymore?" Connor started laughing at my rambling questions.

"Murph', just stop" Connor's voice got softer and he was looking down at his feet as he grabbed a cigarette out of his back pocket and lit it.

"You're suppose ta love Cassidy-" I began, but Connor looked up at me with fire blazing in his eyes and I knew it was time to stop.

"Ya tink dis is easy for me, I don' know how ta do this, always having to protect 'er, always 'avin' ta talk 'bout my feelin's, 'nd you make it look so damn easy, dats not who I am, it's always jus' been you 'nd me, 'nd now it's four of us with a fifth on the way, I can't protect all of ya, hell I can't even protect myself, 'nd now I sound like a fuckin' pussy" Connor grabbed the cigarette out of his mouth violently and held it between two fingers as he flicked off the ash.

"Conn, it isn't easy for me either, but I's jus' someting ya get used to, I'm willin' ta do what I can for Mel, 'nd I know ya can do it for Cass, 'nd plus, ya don' 'ave ta worry 'bout tryin' ta protect all of us, ya forget the Saints are a duo" I raised an eyebrow as I looked at my brother. It was so rare and unlike him to actually speak about what was on his mind, but at least he was finally letting me know what was going on for once, especially since he wasn't he only one effected by his moods.

"Yea but we both know I'm the better of the two in all aspects" Connor raised his eyebrows and smirked evilly and I just rolled my eyes.

"You wish" I retorted.

"Ask Cassidy 'nd then you'll know" Connor stepped on his cigarette snuffing it out.

"Oh fuck you" I growled before I walked back over to the patio door so I could look inside to see what was going on. When I focused on the figures inside I saw three people, Cassidy, Melanie, and a muscular man with brown hair, when he went to sit down on the couch I saw the flash of a badge and a gun and I immediately looked at Connor with a concerned look on my face.

Cassidy's POV

"Can I get you anything to drink?" I asked as Edward and Melanie sat down in the living room. I was very uneasy with this man in my house, not only was I harboring two wanted felons, but I was the head of the Italian mob and a murderer, it was safe to say I wanted this guy gone as soon as possible.

"I'll have a glass of water" Edward responded and I walked into the kitchen to fetch a glass and sparkling water. As I was waiting for the glass to fill up I grabbed the wall phone and dialed Connor's number.

"'Ello?" He answered.

"FBI guy inside, leave now, don't go to the apartment, probably not safe, Conn, be safe, and I'm still pissed at you" I hung up the phone before he could say anything and grabbed the water and headed back into the living room.

"Here you go" I handed Edward the water and he accepted it with a thank you. I took my seat next to Melanie and waited for Edward to speak after he took a sip of water.

"As you may or may not know, there seems to be a lot of weird things happening to your family lately, we at the bureau believe that someone is targeting you" Edward explained and I looked at Melanie quickly, the people targeting us were the Saints, and they just happen to be our boyfriends.

"If you're talking about the Saints, I don't think we have anything to worry about, they have been pretty quiet for a while" I looked at Edward as he studied my facial expression.

"Well, I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but we found a house in the Russian neighborhood yesterday evening and then dead were positioned just like they are accustomed to" Edward stood up and started to walk towards the patio, I didn't know if Connor and Murphy had left like I told them or if they were still out there, so I immediately jumped up and walked over to Edward.

"So you think we are in danger, do you think they had something to do with my guesthouse being destroyed?" I asked and he turned towards me before he spoke.

"Destroyed is and understatement, they blew it up, and I think they were sending a message, trying to frighten you before they made their final move, now the FBI is head of the investigation, so we will be in and out of here on a regular basis to check on you two and monitor any suspicious activity" Edward walked up to the patio door and looked out at the rubble, I was holding my breath, praying to god that Connor and Murphy had left.

"Do you mind if we go take a look at the house?" Edward asked looking back at me.

"No, not at all" I walked in front of him and we headed out to the wreckage, leaving Melanie inside on the couch.

"So you were out when this all went down?" He asked as he picked up a piece of wood and examined it.

"Yes, Melanie was at church, and I was out with friends" I hesitated when I said friends. I had thought about saying boyfriend, but then they would want to talk to Connor and there was no way I was letting him get that close to the feds.

"Out with friends you say" Edward stated more than he asked and I blushed knowing I was caught in a lie.

"I was out with a friend, an ex boyfriend of mine, Melanie never liked him, but we still keep in touch, don't really want her finding out" The lie slipped out of my mouth before I could really think it through, but now I would have to go down with the ship.

"I see" Edward smirked at me and I knew he was getting the wrong idea, but to hell with him, I wanted him gone.

"Your brother was killed a few weeks ago correct?" He asked and I nodded my head.

"But that had nothing to do with the Saints" I stated and he looked at me quickly, "My brother was a police officer his friends talked to me" I explained and Edward nodded.

"We found a few of your brothers friends, three of them, dead at an apartment building in the Irish neighborhood" I pretended to be shocked, but little did he know I was the one who killed them.

"Oh, that's horrible" I shook my head selling my shock.

"Found them on a fire escape, they were all shot clean in the chest, expert shooter took them out, so we figure it was the Saints, but we have ruled out the apartment, seeing as no one has been there in a while and they wouldn't be stupid enough to stash the bodies where they sleep" Edward was more thinking out loud than actually talking to me, but it was giving me some good insight into the investigation.

"Who lives in the apartment?" I asked trying to see if they had figured that much out.

"No records on it, but the old lady one floor below said it's two Irish brothers, we've got surveillance there now, if they come back we definitely want to question them, just as a protocol" He shrugged and finally stood up form kneeling and dusted off his pant legs.

"So what now?" I asked, wondering exactly how this was all going to work.

"Well, we set up some cameras around the property, leave a patrol car around the house at all time, put gps on your phones, and don't allow you to go anywhere without supervision" He finished and I actually laughed in his face.

"I'm sorry, I'm ok with everything but the supervision, do you honestly think they are going to try and kill me in public" I scoffed and shook my head, "No supervision, but you can do whatever else you want" I started to head back towards the house and I turned around to see if Edward was coming.

"You won't budge on this will you?" He asked and I shook my head and he finally sighed in defeat, "Fine, but keep your phone on you at all times" Edward warned and we both walked back inside, "The men will be by tomorrow to install everything, thank you for your cooperation and time ladies, here is my card, don't hesitate to call, there will be a car parked outside starting tonight" Edward nodded at Melanie and I before walking out the door. I closed the door behind him and leaned my back up against it.

"Holy shit, we are so fucked!" Melanie shouted as he ran a hand through her hair. I couldn't help but laugh at her, because what she was saying and doing was so out of character for her.

"We are going to be fine" I reassured her.

"You saying we are going to be fine, that's rich" She laughed.

"Just think of it as an obstacle course, it'll sure make dating a lot more exciting" I smirked at Melanie just shook her head in disbelief.

Connor's POV

As soon as Cassidy hung up the phone I looked at my brother and shook my head.

"We need ta leave" I spoke and Murphy looked at me confused.

"What do ya mean we 'ave ta leave, who da 'ell was at the door?" He asked and I laughed a little before I replied.

"Fuckin' feds" Murphy nodded before he snuck a peak inside, Melanie and Cassidy were walking into the living room with a brown haired man and something deep inside of me stirred, I didn't like the fact that he was inside with the girls alone, but I was no good to them if I got caught, so I did as Cassidy instructed and I left with Murphy. We headed towards our apartment, but stopped just short, we headed into McGinty's and sat down at the bar.

"Ah, da MacManus brudder's, where da 'ell 'ave ya been, fuck, ass!" Doc shouted after he finished talking and Murphy and I exchanged a look before responding.

"We've been a little preoccupied, 'ad a quarrel wit Cassidy's brother, 'ad some fights wit some Russians, but 'ey Murph' 'ere is gonna be a da" I slapped Murphy on the back, trying to focus the attention off of me. Doc brought us over some beers and started up a conversation with Murphy as I hopped off of my bar stool and walked to the back of the bar. There was no one in the place, it being the middle of the day, but I still didn't want anyone to head me. It had been a good thirty minutes since Murphy and I had left the house so I decided to call Cassidy.

"Connor, please tell me you listened and didn't go back to the apartment, they have it under surveillance, they found the bodies, said an expert shoot must have taken them out" I could hear the worried in her voice disappear when she talked about the compliment she was given.

"Well ya a damn good shot, I'll give ya dat" I laughed.

"Are you safe, where are you at?" Cassidy asked and I turned and leaned up against the back wall.

"McGinty's, 'avin' a few beers" I replied and she sighed over the phone.

"Conn, things are going to get a little crazy, they want to put cameras all over the house, put a car outside, gps in our phones, and they were going to follow us at all time, but I told them fuck no" I laughed at her stubbornness, leave it to Cassidy to tell the feds to shove off and they actually listen.

"So where we supposed to stay?" I questioned and Cassidy was quiet for a while before she finally responded.

"I've still got my brother's apartment, its posh, but its in a nice neighborhood, somewhere they won't look for you" She explained and I was a little uneasy about sleeping where he brother slept, but it was better than the crap at the bar.

"Dat should work" I replied and the phone went silent for a while and I looked at my phone, thinking that it had dropped the call, "Cass, ya still there?" I asked.

"Yea, I'm here, but I think I need a drink" I could hear her smirk over the phone before she hung up. I looked at the time on my phone, noon, she would be here in less than ten minutes, always so predictable.

**A/N: I am so so sorry that this took me so long to get up, I've been swamped with reading and it's only the first full week, I haven't even had time to write or anything, good thing this was already written. Sorry again for the long wait, hope you enjoy! Thanks **_Sissymac_** and **_McBrideReedusLover_** for the reviews. Wanna be mentioned Review please!**


	68. Chapter 68

Cassidy's POV

"And where do you think you're going?" Melanie asked me as I started for the door.

"To meet the boys, you comin'?" I asked and she immediately jumped up off of the couch and followed after me.

"Wait, what about the car outside?" Melanie stopped and looked at me. I had to admit I had forgotten about the car that was going to watch the house for the night.

"Well, I told Edward that I didn't want supervision, so they shouldn't follow us, and if they do, then I'll just have to try and shake them" I smirked and Melanie just shook her head.

"You do like to try and get in trouble don't you" Melanie followed me into the garage and I turned to her before I opened my door.

"It's like you don't even know me at all" I ducked my head and got into the truck that Melanie and Murphy had taken to rescue Connor and I. The garage door opened and I eyed the car that was parked just in front of the yard, when I backed out and headed for the main road the car started to follow us and I turned to look at Melanie with a smile before I punched on the gas. At first the car kept up with us pretty easily, but then I started turning every so often, trying to get them lost, finally I ran a yellow light going eighty five and they were forced to stop at the red light.

"Jesus Cass" Melanie looked behind us and smirked, "You lost them"

"You're damn right I lost them, it's like you have no faith" I smirked as I let off the gas and turned left at the next light so I could get back on the main road. It only took a few more minutes before I pulled up outside McGinty's and parked the truck, I just hoped that the guys that were looking for us didn't check the license plate and find us.

"Well, where is my drink?" I asked once I walked into the bar and both Connor and Murphy turned to look at me and laughed.

"Ya sure 're in a good mood" Murphy pointed out.

"She should be after trying to get rid of the car following us" Melanie walked past me and sat down next to Murphy after giving him a quick kiss.

"Cassidy it is so good ta see ya, last time ya were 'ere, well ya know, fuck, ass!" Doc was implying when Connor had kidnapped me, if you could even call that kidnapping.

"Yea, a lot has definitely happened since then" I glared at Connor and he cocked an eyebrow at me before I focused back on Doc, "How about a beer Doc" I sat down two bar stools down from Connor and grabbed the beer after Doc set it down. I could feel Connor staring at me and I turned to look at him and he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders in a questioning way.

"I'm still mad at you" I stated sternly and took a drink of my beer as I tried to hide my smirk. Yes I was still pissed at Connor for trying to force himself on me just to get me off his case, but he was Connor and lately it seemed hard to stay mad at him, though I had to admit I missed the hatred we shared back when we first met, it added a little something to the relationship.

"What for?" Connor asked and I laughed before turning on my barstool to face him.

"You very well know what, even Murphy knows what" I looked at Murphy for back-up.

"'Ey, don' look at me" Murphy held up his hands in surrender and immediately Melanie started asking him what I was talking about. I wasn't sure if he was going to tell her, but I focused back on Connor as he sat there with a smug look on his face.

"I tink ya delusional babe" Connor smirked as he downed the shot Doc had set on the counter.

"Babe, now you're the delusional one" I scoffed and looked away form him dramatically. Suddenly Connor was behind me and he wrapped his arms around me and roughly pulled be back against him and buried his face in my neck while nipping at my skin. I tried to stay calm and not wiggle or make any noises, but he continued and then started nibbling on my ear and I knew if he continued that I was going to let out an uncontrollable moan and I did not want everyone to hear that.

"Stop Connor" I whined as I pushed back and hoped off the bar stool, "Are you just trying to push my buttons today" I glared at him and he took a step back and looked at me.

"Ya actually pissed" He stated almost in disbelief.

"Yes I'm pissed, what happened to you, because this isn't you, earlier today, that was not the Connor I know and sometimes regretfully love, that was a monster that was using your body to keep me from getting to know you" I had finally had enough and I was going to give him a piece of my mind, I loved him, I really did, but what he had done trying to force himself on me after I had told him I wasn't up for it, that had pissed me off and hurt me. I realized that Connor wasn't the kind to just spill his guts about his feelings, but I was supposed to be someone he trusted and loved, and he wouldn't even tell me.

"Sadie, it was nothin' jus' a lil distraction technique" Connor reached out his had to place it on my arm but I moved to the side and avoided his touch, "Come on now, ya overeatin' ta dis" Connor was starting to get agitated now and the blue was slowly fading from his eyes, back to the MacManus I had met that first fateful night.

"Ya know, I think I preferred it when we hated each other, at least there was some excitement and no emotional attachment involved, you could do whatever the hell you wanted and I didn't give a damn, but now" I stopped talking and just shook my head before I turned on my heels and walked out the back of the bar to the alley.

Melanie's POV

Cassidy left the bar and I was tempted to go after her, but I figured at this point she just wanted to be alone, plus I had other people to yell at still inside the bar. Murphy had told me everything as Cassidy and Connor spoke and I was furious at Connor for what he had done. I don't know if it was the hormones that made me more confident, but I got up off my barstool and walked over to Connor and smacked him across the face. I was shocked after the fact and Connor looked at me with wide dark eyes.

"And to think I was starting to trust you and you go and do this, you really are the monster out of the group, Murphy is able to put aside his pastime and actually have a life, but with you, it's too close to the surface you can't not think about it and use your skills for evil" I shook my head before I looked at Murphy, his eyes were wide and he was very shocked by my reaction. I went and took my seat next to Murphy and no one spoke for a very long time, finally Connor spoke up and Murphy and I almost broke our necks because we tried to look at him quickly.

"I'm jus' not cut out for it" He downed the rest of his beer and started for the front door. I was not going to have him walk out on Cassidy, even if I was pissed at him and so was she, he needed to nut up and fix this.

"Not so fast" I jumped in front of Connor and he just looked at me with dull blue gray eyes, he didn't try to walk around me, he didn't try to push me out of the way, he just stood there with that sad look on his face, "I may not like you right now, but I know change is hard, but compromise makes it easier, Connor you're good for her, and while I'm not happy about what you did, you make her better, she laughs, she jokes, she even loves the fact that because of you there is a constant element of danger in her life, you can't walk out now" I finally made eye contact with him and it was like something sparked in his eyes and he was looked at me instead of through me.

"Ya really need ta make up ya mind, first ya 'ate me 'cause of someting I did, 'nd now ya don' want me ta leave, please tell me it's jus' the baby doin' dat to ya" Connor smirked.

"Most of it, yes" I blushed, "Now go talk to her or something, just don't leave" I left my post and walked back over to Murphy and he didn't say a word, he just sat there the whole time watching.

"Mel, Murph'" Connor started as he walked over to us, "I'm really 'appy dat ya two are gonna 'ave a baby, can't wait to be an uncle" He smirked and I knew he genuinely meant it.

Cassidy's POV

I had made myself comfortable on the ground leaning up against the building, I needed air and this was a good place to get it, especially since it was away from Connor. He was so frustrating lately, just leave it to me to find the guy that seems all good and then turns crazy, though I'm pretty sure he was a little bit crazy to begin with. I didn't expect him to come racing after me, he wasn't that kind of guy, but I had expected him to fight back, yell, react, do something to tell me he felt something. I remembered the last time I had been out here, it was Connor and I, and I had pretty much told him I didn't want to see him anymore, it was a hard thing for me to do, but I just wasn't ready for what it seemed he wanted, I still didn't know if I was ready for what he wanted, but I liked being with him and he really was good in bed, why would I ever pass that up. Suddenly it dawned on me that maybe Connor wasn't comfortable with everything that was going on lately and that maybe he was afraid of all the changes, men don't like to admit it, but maybe that's what was going on, he just didn't know how to deal with it. I stood up and headed for the door and when I reached for the doorknob the door swung open and Connor stood there, a soft smile on his lips and his eyes practically glowing blue.

"Hey, I was just about to go back in" I said shyly looking anywhere but into Connor's eyes and then suddenly Connor was embracing me and his lips landed on mine. It wasn't forced or heated, it was soft and tender and it was something that wasn't normal for Connor, but it was good and it was making my legs feel like jello.

"I'm sorry, I'm not good at dis, but it's you so I'll try" Connor whispered in my ear and I wrapped my arms around him and smiled into his chest before tilting my head back for another kiss.

"Ya know, I do miss the heat sometimes, it was fun back then, but I guess we grew out of that" I tried to smile, but I was kind of bummed about it.

"Well I 'ear dat ya 'ren't a couple unless ya fight" Connor winked and I laughed, "I like it when ya laugh" Connor caught me off guard and I stopped laughing and looked at him with soft hooded eyes, I knew I wasn't completely crazy for loving him, he was just one more challenge I was meant to deal with. Connor and I just stood there in each others arms for a while, that was until Melanie and Murphy came running outside out of breath.

"We have a problem, some of your guys just walked in here, luckily Murphy was in the bathroom so I was able to casually push him out the door before they saw him, but we have to get out of here now" Melanie was speaking a mile a minute and Connor and I broke our embrace and readied ourselves for action.

**A/N: So here is the next chapter, hope everyone enjoys, sorry about the long wait, it has literally taken me like five days spread out for three weeks to write one chapter, so updates are slow. Thanks **_Sissymac _**for the review. Wanna be mentioned review please!**


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